- Heat center Hassan Whiteside calls the week he spent in Africa “life changing,” relays Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Whiteside was among the stars of the NBA Africa game, making all five of his shots from the field, but the week of volunteering beforehand made a larger impression. “Life changing, life changing,” he said, “from building houses with kids, from seeing kids playing basketball, from taking selfies with all the kids around the world. It’s a dream come true. I never thought that kids in Africa or anybody in Africa would know my name. It takes me back. It’s crazy.”
The Rockets have reportedly talked to Miami as they seek another perimeter defender, and salary cap expert Albert Nahmad believes James Johnson would be a better fit in Houston than Tyler Johnson (Twitter link).
James Johnson’s .308 shooting percentage from 3-point range prevents him from being a perfect replacement for Trevor Ariza, but his physical brand of defense and his ability to guard several positions could be just what the Rockets need, Nahmad suggests. He also describes James Johnson, who averaged a career-best 12.8 and 10.8 PPG during his two seasons with Miami, as “a sneaky good offense creator in short bursts.”
ESPN’s Zach Lowe recently reported that the Rockets have reached out to several teams about adding a wing player and are willing to offer Ryan Anderson and their 2019 first-round pick to the Hawks in exchange for Kent Bazemore. He also said there have been conversations between Houston and Miami, suggesting that the same package could be available for Tyler Johnson.
Nahmad doesn’t see that as a deal the Heat would accept because they would be taking on money by adding Anderson and Houston’s draft pick isn’t likely to be high enough to make it worthwhile (Twitter link). The offer sheet that the Heat matched in 2016 for the fourth-year guard begins to balloon in the upcoming season, with a salary of $19,245,370 in each of the next two years. That’s still a little cheaper than Anderson, who has two seasons and nearly $41.7MM left on his current deal.
Houston’s offer wouldn’t be enough to get Miami to part with James Johnson either, Nahmad tweets, and the Heat would have to include something else in the deal to make salaries match because his salary is only $14.65MM. Miami would like to get rid of Dion Waiters‘ contract, which will pay him more than $36MM over the next three seasons, but the Rockets are already into luxury tax territory and aren’t likely to take on that much extra money.
Nahmad notes that the expected signings of free agent Carmelo Anthony and second-round pick De’Anthony Melton will give Houston 14 players under contract with a base salary around $135MM and another $19MM in tax payments. Clint Capela‘s new contract has $2MM in potential bonuses that could push that figure even higher (Twitter link).
Dwyane Wade‘s decision on whether to return for a 16th season remains on hold as he concentrates on his duties as official ambassador to the Jr. NBA World Championships this week, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The inaugural event for 13- and 14-year-olds is being held at the Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World.
Wade didn’t offer any clues to his future, but he said it was gratifying to return to Miami in a February trade after a frustrating half season with the Cavaliers.
“I enjoyed being around the guys,” he said. “Obviously, I didn’t like the fact we lost 4-1 [to the Philadelphia 76ers] in the playoffs. But for me to get back to my comfort zone and show that being in the right situation with the right opportunities that I could still play this game — maybe not above the rim but play the game at a level that can help the team be successful — all those things for me were great.”
While contemplating his future, Wade has spent much of the summer watching his son, Zaire, play in AAU events. Much like LeBron James did in opting to join the Lakers, Wade said family concerns will play a big role in determining his future.
“Every decision at this point,” he said, “especially in a professional athlete’s career, at 36 years old, a lot of it surrounds their families and what’s best for them and their families.”
There’s more this morning from Miami:
- Justise Winslow tells Rohan Nadkarni of Sports Illustrated there was some “animosity” when Wade left Miami two years ago to sign with the Bulls. Wade felt disrespected by the offers he was getting from the Heat and opted to maximize his earning potential in Chicago. Winslow, who considered Wade a mentor, said they had some heated exchanges in their first game after the move, but have since worked things out.
- Winslow, who is eligible for an extension this summer, doesn’t care if a long-term deal is worked out right away or in free agency next year, Nadkarni adds in the same piece. After injuries limited to 18 games in 2016/17, Winslow bounced back strong last season, showing the versatility the Heat were hoping for when they drafted him 10th overall in 2015.
- A rumored trade that would send Tyler Johnson to the Rockets for Ryan Anderson may not make sense for Miami, Winderman writes in a mailbag column. Anderson has a slightly larger contract, making $20.4MM and $21.3MM over the next two seasons compared to $19.2MM each for Johnson. Winderman doesn’t see a trade happening unless the Heat can unload more salary.
In order to improve upon their 2017/18 campaign without having made any significant changes this offseason, the Heat had better hope that Dion Waiters, who missed 52 games last season, becomes this season’s Victor Oladipo, opines Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel.
There are some unquestionable similarities between Oladipo and Waiters. As Winderman notes, both were traded from Oklahoma City, both were top five selections in their respective drafts, and both are now playing for their third NBA franchise.
“You can never predict anything in this league,” Riley said. “You look at what happened last year to Indiana and how good they became getting [Domantas] Sabonis and Oladipo, how they changed, how their mentality changed. They made some good additions. Very few people talk about them.”
Per Winderman, it’s that type of under-the-radar approach from Riley that has defined the Heat’s offseason thus far. Riley seemingly believes that his team is good enough to complete already.
“One thing we have going for us is we have familiarity, we have continuity,” Riley said. “There is a system that’s been intact here. (And) not having Dion Waiters play hardly at all, you’ve got to give it another shot. You can’t just keep ripping things up every year and changing your roster.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Magic shooting guard Evan Fournier is happy with the offseason moves made in Orlando, relays Chris Hays of the Orlando Sentinel. Specifically, he thinks the team got a steal in being able to draft big man Mohamed Bamba at No. 6 and was particularly happy to see teammate Aaron Gordon re-sign a long-term deal.
- Bam Adebayo, the 2017 first-round selection of the Heat, refuses to be labeled as a center, reports Shandel Richardson of the Sun-Sentinel. So much so that he has been concentrating on his offensive game all summer in order to see more minutes at power forward.
- Per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, John Wall is confident that new Wizards teammate Dwight Howard will be in attendance at an informal (and presumably optional) team minicamp next week.
The Heat may use Dion Waiters as the primary backup to starting point guard Goran Dragic if Waiters’ ankle issues are behind him, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Coach Erik Spoelstra was using Waiters in a playmaking role before he was sidelined last season. Tyler Johnson isn’t suited for that role, Winderman continues, because he expends too much effort and takes too time advancing the ball. Spoelstra tends to use a variety of players who take turns handling the ball, which is why there is uncertainty about that role aside from Dragic.
In other news regarding the team:
- Miami has made Johnson, Hassan Whiteside and Waiters available in trade talks this summer but hasn’t found much of a market for the trio, two unnamed league GMs told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The Heat’s best chance of falling under the luxury-tax threshold would be moving Johnson for a player making less money, Jackson adds.
- The Heat agreed to a contract with former Kansas guard Malik Newman with the intent of making him a G League affiliate player, Winderman writes in a separate story. Those deals are limited to a $50K guarantee. The team has already filled both of its two-contract slots with Duncan Robinson and Yante Maten, while the regular roster already has five rotation options at the guard spots with the possibility of Dwyane Wade making that situation even more muddled if he’s re-signed.
- Finding a steady role for Rodney McGruder will be a challenge for Spoelstra next season, Winderman writes in another mailbag. McGruder was a starter when Miami made its second-half run in 2016/17, Winderman notes, but a leg injury sidetracked him last season. With Josh Richardson and Waiters starting at the wing spots and Justise Winslow, Johnson and Wayne Ellington as options behind them, it’s tough to see where McGruder fits in, Winderman adds.
When NBA teams sign undrafted free agents or second-round picks to contracts, those clubs need to have cap space or a mid-level exception available to lock up those players for longer than two years or to pay them more than the minimum salary.
While most teams make sure to earmark some cap room or a portion of their mid-level exception to use on those players – particularly second-rounders – that’s not always the case. The Grizzlies, for instance, used their entire mid-level exception on Kyle Anderson‘s offer sheet, meaning they could only sign 32nd overall pick Jevon Carter to a two-year, minimum-salary deal.
This offseason though, a new tool has come in handy in allowing teams to sign players to longer-term or more lucrative contracts than the minimum salary exception would allow, without having to use cap room or the mid-level exception to do it. The catch? Those players had to have finished the 2017/18 season on a two-way contract with the club.
When a player is on a two-way contract, a new kind of deal introduced in the NBA’s latest Collective Bargaining Agreement, he’s not technically on a club’s 15-man roster, but he accrues Bird rights just as a player on the roster would. That means that any player who finished last season on a two-way deal had Non-Bird rights this summer.
Non-Bird rights don’t allow teams to give players major raises — Non-Bird deals can only start at up to 120% of the player’s previous salary or 120% of his minimum salary, whichever is greater. However, they do allow for contracts of up to four years, which has paid off for some teams and players this summer.
Consider the case of Georges Niang, who was on a two-way contract with the Jazz last season. Buoyed by an impressive Summer League showing with Utah last month, Niang earned a three-year contract with the club. Typically, to go up to three years, the over-the-cap Jazz would have had to dip into their mid-level exception, but that wasn’t the case for Niang — his Non-Bird rights allowed for a three-year deal.
While Niang’s contract is only worth the minimum, Non-Bird rights do allow for slightly larger salaries, as noted above. For example, the Knicks re-signed former two-way player Luke Kornet to the maximum allowable salary using his Non-Bird rights. Instead of earning his minimum salary ($1,349,383), Kornet will make 120% of that amount ($1,619,260). Without his Non-Bird rights, New York would have had to use its mid-level or bi-annual exception to give Kornet that kind of raise.
Non-Bird rights haven’t paid off for every team with a two-way player who’s getting a promotion. For instance, the Nuggets moved Torrey Craig to their standard roster by giving him a new two-year, $4MM contract. Denver had to use part of its mid-level exception to complete that signing, since it exceeded the salary Craig could’ve earned with Non-Bird rights. The Nuggets did take advantage of the Non-Bird rules with their other two-way player though, giving Monte Morris a new three-year contract.
Two-way contracts remain in their relative infancy, so it’s interesting to see how teams are taking advantage of the rules surrounding them. Players like Niang, Kornet, and Morris are among the first group of two-way players to be promoted to standard contracts via Non-Bird rights, but they certainly won’t be the last.
Here’s the full list of two-way players whose teams have promoted them to standard contracts this offseason:
- Ryan Arcidiacono (Bulls)
- Jabari Bird (Celtics)
- Antonio Blakeney (Bulls)
- Torrey Craig (Nuggets)
- Derrick Jones (Heat)
- Luke Kornet (Knicks)
- Monte Morris (Nuggets)
- Georges Niang (Jazz)
Note: Jamel Artis, Danuel House, Daniel Hamilton, and Kadeem Allen have signed or agreed to standard NBA contracts with new teams after finishing last season on two-way deals.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Despite a rough 2017/18 campaign that saw him miss 28 games and included a relatively infamous rant about a lack of playing time, Heat center Hassan Whiteside is ready for a fresh start, reports Shandel Richardson of the Sun-Sentinel.
“I feel great,” Whiteside said recently. “I feel a lot better than I did during (last) season. I’m completely healed. I feel like my regular self again.”
Whiteside, who dealt with both knee and hip injuries last season, averaged just 25.3 minutes per game, his lowest since his first season with the Heat in 2014/15. Moreover, he was often benched during fourth quarters and averaged a mere 15.4 MPG in the Heat’s first-round playoff series loss to the Sixers.
In regard to a recent meeting with both head coach Erik Spoelstra and team president Pat Riley, Whiteside says things are much better than a year ago.
“We had a great talk,” Whiteside said. “I just think it’s trust on both sides. I think that’s the biggest thing … It was about a four-hour meeting. It was a lot about life. It was two hours basketball, two hours life. It was a good meeting.”
Whiteside, 29, led the lead in blocks during the 2015/16 season en route to being named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. He followed that up by leading the NBA in rebounds with 14.1 per game during the 2016/17 campaign. He will look to regain that form this season.
The Rockets are poised to finalize a deal with Carmelo Anthony after he clears waivers later today, but signing Anthony won’t necessarily complete Houston’s offseason. As ESPN’s Zach Lowe details in a recent podcast conversation with Chris Herring of FiveThirtyEight, the Rockets remain in the market for at least one more wing player.
“They are going to get another wing,” Lowe said of the Rockets. “It’s going to happen.”
The Rockets lost two key forwards last month when Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute signed with new teams in free agency. Despite re-signing Gerald Green, adding James Ennis, and lining up a deal with Anthony, Houston could use another player with the ability to make threes on offense and guard talented perimeter players on defense.
Earlier this week, we heard that Houston has interest in Hawks swingman Kent Bazemore — Lowe and Herring discuss that possibility, with the ESPN analyst suggesting that the Rockets would likely offer Atlanta a package of Ryan Anderson and their 2019 first-round pick. However, the Hawks aren’t the only team the Rockets are keeping an eye on.
According to Lowe, the Rockets have also talked to the Heat. While Lowe doesn’t identify any specific Miami players that Houston is targeting, he speculates that perhaps the Rockets would be willing to offer that same package of Anderson and a pick for someone like Tyler Johnson.
The Rockets have also “kicked the tires” on Cavaliers shooting guard J.R. Smith, per Lowe. At $14.72MM, Smith has a smaller 2018/19 salary than players like Bazemore and Johnson, so the Cavaliers wouldn’t be able to trade him straight up for Anderson ($20.42MM) and a pick. Smith also only has a modest partial guarantee on his 2019/20 salary, making his contract much more palatable than Anderson’s. That could complicate any trade discussions between the two teams.
Although Lowe doesn’t go into more details on any other trade talks the Rockets might be having, there are a handful of other players around the NBA who would be logical targets as Houston dangles Anderson and a draft pick. Nicolas Batum, DeMarre Carroll, Marvin Williams, Danilo Gallinari, and Courtney Lee are other wings who make between $12-24MM in 2018/19 and are under contract for multiple seasons, though some players in that group are more realistic trade candidates than others.
Asked on Monday about his plans for the upcoming NBA season, Dwyane Wade remained noncommittal, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Wade’s options include a return to the Heat, a deal overseas, or possible retirement, but he’s not ready to announce any decision quite yet.
“In due time,” Wade said. “Time will tell.”
Wade is considered extremely unlikely to play for any NBA team besides the Heat at this point in his career, but there’s no guarantee he’ll continue his playing career at all — and no guarantee he’ll do so in the NBA. A team in China reportedly made Wade a three-year offer worth $25MM, though it’s not clear whether that proposal is still on the table.
According to Reynolds (via Twitter), Wade said today that “every decision” he makes going forward will hinge in large part on what’s best for his family. Reading between the lines, Wade may not view a move to China for the next three years as being in his family’s best interests, though it’d represent a larger payday than he could receive in the NBA.
The Heat have been waiting to hear from both Wade and Udonis Haslem about whether or not they want to continue playing in Miami, and have kept roster spots open for both players. If Haslem returns, he’d get a minimum-salary contract, but a new deal with Wade may require some negotiations.
Reports have indicated that Wade may be seeking the Heat’s $5.34MM taxpayer mid-level exception, and Pat Riley said last week that owner Micky Arison would have a major say in that decision, since Miami’s team salary is already into luxury-tax territory.
JULY 30: The Mavericks have officially signed Macon to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 26: Agent Reggie Brown tells Jackson that Macon is signing a two-year, two-way contract with the Mavericks. Dallas currently has an open two-way slot, with Kostas Antetokounmpo filling the other one.
JULY 25: Rookie free agent guard Daryl Macon appears to have lined up his first NBA contract. According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link), Macon passed on an offer from the Heat and has decided to sign with the Mavericks.
Macon went undrafted last month after averaging 16.8 PPG and 3.9 APG on .447/.421/.875 shooting in his final college season at Arkansas. However, the 22-year-old caught on with the Heat’s Summer League team, appearing in seven total games this month in the Sacramento and Las Vegas leagues.
Macon averaged 7.9 PPG and 4.7 APG in those seven Summer League contests with Miami, making a strong enough impression to earn an Exhibit 10 contract offer from the team. Macon’s agent indicated that his client had received Exhibit 10 offers from at least four NBA clubs and had drawn interest from international teams as well. It seems he has opted for the Mavs’ offer, though the exact terms aren’t yet known.
Assuming Macon finalizes a training camp deal with Dallas, he may get a chance to compete for the team’s 15th roster spot. If he’s waived before the regular season begins, a stint with the Mavs’ G League affiliate, the Texas Legends, could be in his future.