- Heat president Pat Riley says he has reached out to former player Dwyane Wade via e-mail, which is the first contact the executive has attempted with the shooting guard since Wade’s departure over the summer, Dave Hyde of The Sun Sentinel writes. “I hope he got it,” Riley said regarding his message. “You know those guys changing phone numbers and e-mails …” Riley also noted that the lack of offseason contact between the pair is nothing new, Hyde adds. “He’d get three letters from me,” Riley said. “One asked if his a– was in shape, one said to get his a– in shape and one said he’d better be in shape.“
- Bulls guard Dwyane Wade reiterated to reporters tonight that he hasn’t had any contact with team president Pat Riley since leaving the Heat in free agency, relays Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. Wade, who is preparing for his first game back in Miami on Thursday, said he’s not sure if he will try to contact Riley before the contest. “I know who Pat is,” Wade said. “It’s no secret to me. I was there 13 years, I’ve seen a lot of players come and go. I know how he is. If you’re not with him, you’re against him. That’s just the way he is. You got to understand that, man. And I’m cool with it. I’m fine, 100 percent. I was there 13 years so I’ve seen a lot of video tributes, seen a lot of players come in and go out. And I’ve seen the way he’s responded to them. And I know if you’re not with him, you’re against him.”
Even though they could use his help, the Wizards don’t plan to rush Ian Mahinmi back on the court, writes Candace Buckner of the Washington Post. The 6’11” center is a month removed from surgery to repair a partially torn medial meniscus in his left knee. His recovery time was set at six weeks, and coach Scott Brooks said his return will depend on how the knee responds. Mahinmi was jumping and rebounding today without a brace at today’s practice. “Once you’re able to get on the practice court with the group, it’s going to take some time to gain condition,” Brooks said. “He’s still some time away. Like I said, I hate to put a timetable on it, but I know he’s going to do his job to get back as soon as he can, but we’re not going to push him. We want to make sure he’s fit to play for the remainder of the season.” Washington signed Mahinmi to a four-year $64MM deal over the offseason.
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- If Brooks is as unhappy with the team’s 1-5 start as Bradley Beal suggested this weekend, it may result in opportunities for younger players, according to J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic. Rookies Sheldon McClellan, Danuel House and Daniel Ochefu could see increased minutes if the team doesn’t improve soon.
- As Dwyane Wade prepares for his return to Miami on Thursday, he tells Nick Friedell of ESPN.com that he still pays attention to his former team. “I definitely watch when I get an opportunity to watch them play,” Wade said. “One, because it’s a lot of my young guys over there. I want to see them succeed. I want to see Tyler [Johnson] and Justise [Winslow] and all those guys take that next step. I want to see how Hassan [Whiteside] is going to respond to everyone saying this and that about him since he got paid. So I watch that as someone who knows them, then I watch the game as a fan and I watch it as a competitor. I watch it so many different ways.”
- Wade also likes the moves the Magic made over the offseason, writes John Denton of NBA.com. Orlando overhauled its roster by adding nine new players, including a trade for Serge Ibaka and the free agent signing of Bismack Biyombo. “I thought they did a great job in Orlando of putting together a competitive team,’’ Wade said. “They did it a little different – like a throwback – where they went and got two bigs. Most people are trying to get smaller, but they went and got two bigs and that’s a throwback. But their bigs spread the floor and shoot the jump shot.”
Dwyane Wade and the Heat had different priorities in free agency, which is what led to a messy breakup of their 13-year relationship, writes Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago. When Wade announced in early July that he was accepting a two-year, $47MM offer from the Bulls, it marked the end of a long process in which he felt he didn’t get the respect he had earned for his accomplishments in Miami. Or as Wade puts it, “I found out very quickly that this is a business.”
The Heat set two priorities in free agency — re-signing Hassan Whiteside and reaching out to Kevin Durant. They needed to be able to offer max deals to both players, which limited the amount that was left to offer Wade. “At the end of the day,” Wade said, “I talked to those guys and I told them, ‘It’s free agency. I understand y’all have a job to do, and I have a job to do as well.’ I let it be known I was going to be a free agent and I wasn’t waiting by the phone for them to call me.”
The Heat were able to re-sign Whiteside on the first day of free agency and were one of five finalists for Durant. When he chose the Warriors, many assumed it was a formality to bring back Wade, but too many bridges had already been burned. Privately, the Heat front office was concerned about giving a max deal to a 34-year-old player, even one with Wade’s history. And Wade felt disrespected by being third in line.
“I did my homework because I understand Hassan was a priority, which he should’ve been,” Wade explained. “I understood that they were trying to go out and get KD, because that’s something they wanted to do. But I had to look out for myself and put myself in a situation that I wanted to be in if things didn’t work out the way I wanted them to work out, and they didn’t.”
Wade’s return to Miami in a visiting uniform will take place Thursday night. He insists that he still has a good relationship with the Heat organization and has talked with everyone except team president Pat Riley. But whatever emotions may accompany his homecoming, Wade made it clear that he has already moved on with his basketball life.
“I don’t know how many more years I have left to play this game,” he said. “It’s about doing what I want to do at this moment. Not saying I didn’t do what I wanted, I always did what I wanted, but it’s continuing to have the ability to do that. And I did. I put myself first for once. I didn’t say, hey, I waited on Miami to come to me. At the end of the day, I could’ve come back to Miami and made great money. The contract they offered me was good. By the time it got to me, my heart was somewhere else.”
Heat big man Chris Bosh and Thunder forward Josh Huestis each have new representation, according to various reports. Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal reports (via Twitter) that Bosh has signed with Rob Pelinka of Landmark Sports Agency, while Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune tweets that Huestis has hired Andy Miller of ASM Sports.
Bosh, who was previously represented by CAA Sports, parted ways with his previous agent earlier this year. The change for Bosh came around the same time that he and the Heat were at odds over his situation in Miami, with the veteran power forward still eager to continue his playing career while the team ruled him out due to blood-clotting concerns that arose during his preseason physical.
Bosh and the Heat reportedly haven’t had much – if any – contact over the last few months, so Pelinka will be tasked with handling that situation as it develops. The Heat are widely expected to waive Bosh later in the 2016/17 league year, assuming the team can get cap relief from the move.
As for Huestis, he was previously represented by Toby Bailey and Mitchell Butler, who played a part in the decision to have their client play a year in the D-League after he was selected in the first round of the 2014 draft by the Thunder. While that was an unprecedented move, there’s no indication that it’s the reason for Huestis’ change in representation.
The Thunder recently exercised their third-year option on Huestis for the 2017/18 season, so he has a guaranteed salary for the next two seasons, and remains under contract for one more team option in 2018/19. If that option is exercised, he’ll be eligible for restricted free agency in 2019.
It won’t get the attention that Kevin Durant‘s first game against Oklahoma City did, but Dion Waiters is preparing for his own battle with the Thunder, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The Heat will travel Monday to OKC, where Waiters probably would have stayed if Durant had decided to. Instead, the Thunder opted to use Waiters’ cap space to sign Russell Westbrook to an extension, and the fifth-year guard headed to Miami. Waiters spent a season and a half in Oklahoma City and has fond memories of his time there. “The team there really turned me into a pro,” Waiters said. “I really matured there a lot. Just embracing the whole atmosphere and the city, just how much the team and everybody means to the community was huge. I mean, that’s probably the best time I had, in my experiences, and then my first time in the playoffs.”
There’s more from Miami:
- This year’s extensions put into perspective the big-money deals the Heat signed during the summer, Winderman writes in a separate piece. Miami gave center Hassan Whiteside $98MM over four seasons, which is less than the four-year, $102MM extension Rudy Gobert just got from Utah or the four-year, $100MM extension that Steven Adams received from Oklahoma City. And the four-year, $50MM offer sheet the Heat matched for Tyler Johnson is less than the deals just given to Victor Oladipo, Gorgui Dieng, Cody Zeller or Dennis Schroder. “You’re going to look back at deals like this right now later on down the line and they aren’t going to look like a whole lot,” Johnson said. “Some of these superstars are going to be up there … and it’s going to be crazy.”
- Guard Josh Richardson made his season debut Friday night, less than two months after suffering a knee injury in September, notes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Richardson missed all four of his shots and committed two turnovers, but was on the floor for his defense in the fourth quarter. “I felt fine,” he said. “I’ve got to trust my knee fully. I’ve got to find a rhythm. I told [coach Erik Spoelstra] going into halftime that I felt good. My teammates were encouraging me the whole game. I feel ready.”
- James Johnson, one of Miami’s many offseason additions, enjoyed returning to Toronto for Friday’s game, writes Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. Johnson had two stints with the Raptors and was a crowd favorite. “We made something happen last year and it was good to see the guys that we made it happen with,” Johnson said.
- The Heat have made some savvy lower-profile moves over the last couple summers that could pay dividends, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, who points to team-friendly deals for Josh Richardson, Rodney McGruder, and Luke Babbitt as nice assets for the club.
Throughout the offseason, and in the weeks leading up to the start of the regular season, NBA teams are permitted to carry 20 players, but that total must be cut down to 15 in advance of opening night. However, up to four players waived by teams before the season can be designated as affiliate players and assigned to their D-League squads.
The players have some say in the decision — if they’d prefer to sign with a team overseas, or if they get an opportunity with another NBA club, they’re free to turn down their team’s request to have them play in the D-League. Most NBA and international teams have fairly set rosters by late October though, so having the opportunity to continue playing in the same system is appealing to many of those preseason cuts. Especially since they’ll maintain NBA free agency while they play in the D-League.
There are a few other rules related to D-League affiliate players. A player whose returning rights are held by a D-League team can’t be an affiliate player for another club, which is why undrafted free agents from the current year are commonly signed and assigned. Additionally, an affiliate player must have signed with his team during the current league year, which explains why we often see players signed and quickly waived in the days leading up to the regular season. And, of course, not every NBA team has a D-League affiliate, so clubs like the Hawks, Nuggets, or Clippers have no place to send affiliate players.
With all that in mind, here are the NBA D-League affiliate players to start the 2016/17 season:
Austin Spurs (San Antonio Spurs)
Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Delaware 87ers (Philadelphia 76ers)
Following the Bulls‘ home opener last week, a 105-99 win over the Celtics, Dwyane Wade told Shams Charania of The Vertical that he “closed the Miami chapter” of his basketball career. The veteran guard admitted, with a smile, that he still hadn’t received the email that Pat Riley claimed to write to him in the wake of his departure, but added that he isn’t thinking much about the Heat anymore anyway.
Justise Winslow‘s ballhandling skills gave Miami the confidence to cut Beno Udrih and Briante Weber, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The second-year forward has been helping Goran Dragic run the offense and allowing coach Erik Spoestra to put another shooter on the floor. Winderman speculates that as Josh McRoberts becomes available, the Heat will play more often without a traditional point guard on the floor.
There’s more news from Miami:
- Weber has been promised a full opportunity to display his skills in the D-League, Winderman relays in a separate piece. With the Sioux Falls team last season, Weber shared the point guard role with Tre Kelley and DeAndre Liggins, but now he will be the clear starter. “They did everything right. They made him feel like he’s still very much in their plans,” said Weber’s agent, Bill Neff said. “To me, that was the sole criteria: They made it clear they have plans. They said, ‘He’s the point guard [at Sioux Falls] and we want to see him get better offensively.’ They told him, ‘Even though we cut you, we see real value.'”
- Late-season collapses like the one Friday night against Charlotte as to be expected for a team with so much roster turnover, writes Shandel Richardson of The Sun-Sentinel. Veteran forward Udonis Haslem understands the need to be patient with all his new teammates. “You have to learn from the mistakes,” he said following the game. “You can’t come back the next game and continue to make the same mistakes and have the same errors. The key is learning from those things and being able to adjust and make those corrections the next game.”
- The absence of Dwyane Wade hung over Friday’s home opener, according to Ethan Skolnick of CBS Sports. Even in the pre-game introductions, where Wade’s name used to be the last one called, fans and players could feel there was something missing. After 13 years with the Heat, Wade signed with the Bulls in July.