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Heat Notes: O. Robinson, Adebayo, Richardson, Jaquez

December 11th, 2023 at 10:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Heat center Orlando Robinson didn’t expect to be an NBA starter so soon, but he’s taking advantage of the opportunity created by Bam Adebayo‘s injury, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Adebayo will miss his fourth straight game tonight in Charlotte with a left hip contusion, so Robinson will likely be in the starting lineup again.

The 23-year-old posted the best game of his brief NBA career last Wednesday with 15 points and 12 rebounds at Toronto, but that was followed by a rough outing against Cleveland on Friday in which he was a minus-18 in 20 minutes. Coach Erik Spoelstra said Robinson continues to improve as he deals with the increased responsibility.

“He makes you absolutely respect his fortitude and his grit,” Spoelstra said. “He is relentless with his work, with his approach, with his commitment to earn trust from everybody and he does it with a competitive spirit. He gets better each month. He goes to school on everything. If he makes a mistake in any kind of game, he gets to work with the film, with [Heat assistant coach] Malik [Allen] and then he wants to drill it 10,000 times, which is what we love.”

Robinson, who has $850K of his $1.8MM salary for this season already guaranteed, wasn’t in the team’s rotation when the season began. He played in just four of the first 18 games and spent time in the G League late last month. Robinson may fall out of the rotation again when Adebayo returns, with Kevin Love likely to be the primary backup center, but this latest stretch confirms his belief that he’s a legitimate NBA player.

“I knew,” Robinson said. “It was just waiting on the opportunity and making the most of it.”

There’s more on the Heat:

Josh Richardson expressed frustration after being called for his third flopping violation of the season in Friday’s game, Chiang adds in a separate story. The NBA has placed a renewed emphasis on getting rid of flopping, fining players $2K for each violation, but Richardson doesn’t believe officials are doing a good job of policing it. “I don’t know what it is,” he said. “Maybe I just need to start running people over and stop falling or do something. But I don’t know, I think it’s terrible.”
Jaime Jaquez isn’t bitter about falling to 18th in this year’s draft, but he tells Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel that he’s “definitely aware” of all the players who were selected ahead of him. Jaquez, who was chosen as the league’s Rookie of the Month for November, said the long wait paid off when he learned that he was headed to Miami. “So as long as I came here, I was good,” he said. “So it ended up working out for me. To the teams that passed, sorry, but this is where I wanted to go, anyway.”
The Lakers’ in-season tournament dominance could make the Heat think about adding more size to their roster, Winderman states in a mailbag column.

Southeast Notes: Ball, Williams, Smith Jr., Adebayo, Robinson, Jaquez

December 10th, 2023 at 5:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Hornets guard LaMelo Ball suffered a severe sprain of his right ankle on November 26 and he’ll be reevaluated in approximately one week. Ball told The Charlotte Observer’s Roderick Boone that he’s gradually progressing in his recovery from the injury.

“Just slow progress. I’m doing treatment every day, just trying to get better,” the Hornets star said. “From when it happened, it feels a little better.”

Ball is optimistic he can return to the Hornets lineup sooner than expected: “It feels way better than when it happened because at first I couldn’t even put any pressure on my foot. But now I can stand on two feet, walk a little. Still (have) a little limp, but way better than it was.”

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The Hornets list Mark Williams (low back contusion) and Nick Smith Jr. (right foot) as doubtful for the their game against Miami on Monday. Williams, who is averaging 12.7 points and 9.7 rebounds, departed after playing 20 minutes against Toronto on Friday.
Heat center Bam Adebayo will miss his fourth straight game due to a left hip contusion, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. With Adebayo sidelined, Orlando Robinson recorded the first double-double of his career against Toronto on Wednesday. Robinson had a rough outing against Cleveland on Friday with a plus/minus of -18 in 20 minutes. His $1.8MM salary doesn’t fully guarantee until Jan. 10.
Jaime Jaquez played four years of college ball and he’s boosted the Heat immediately, averaging 12.2 points (on 52.2% shooting), 3.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. The 18th overall pick of the June draft is proving that experienced college players can bring more to the table than a one-and-done, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel notes. “I think the fact that he played four years of college, for sure, was viewed as a negative thing and that’s a shame right now because he was a winning player,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Injury Notes: Beal, Suns, Porzingis, Harris, Adebayo, Jazz

December 8th, 2023 at 9:41am CST by Luke Adams

Star guard Bradley Beal fully participated in the Suns‘ practice on Thursday, but he’s not quite ready to return from his back injury, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. The team wants to get Beal some more practice reps before reinserting him into its lineup, according to head coach Frank Vogel.

“We want to see him stack together a few practices where he responds well,” Vogel said. “No timeline on how many that is or what that looks like, but we want to continue to make sure he’s responding well before we put him back in there. Stay away from being in and out.”

The shorthanded Suns will also be without Kevin Durant (left ankle sprain) and Grayson Allen (right groin strain) when they host Sacramento on Friday. However, as Rankin relays, Vogel referred to those injuries as “short-term” issues, suggesting Durant and Allen may not miss much – if any – additional time beyond Friday.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

As expected, Kristaps Porzingis appears poised to return for the Celtics after missing four games due to a strained left calf. He’s considered probable to play in Friday’s game vs. New York, according to the team (Twitter link).
[Note: Porzingis has since been upgraded to available.]
Pistons forward Joe Harris, who has been sidelined since November 5 due to a shoulder injury, has been upgraded to questionable for Friday’s game in Orlando, tweets Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press. Spacing has been an issue this season for the Pistons, who rank 28th in the NBA in three-pointers per game, so the return of Harris, a career 43.6% three-point shooter, could be a boon.
Heat big man Bam Adebayo will miss a second consecutive game on Friday vs. Cleveland due to his left hip contusion, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Adebayo said earlier this week that he’s unsure about his return timeline.
The Jazz are close to getting some lineup reinforcements. Jordan Clarkson (right thigh contusion), who has missed the past three games, and Kelly Olynyk (right shoulder strain), who has been out for two in a row, are listed as questionable for Friday vs. the Clippers. Lauri Markkanen (left hamstring strain) will be unavailable for a seventh straight contest, but was a full practice participant on Thursday and just has to tick a couple more boxes before being cleared to return, Sarah Todd of The Deseret News explains.

Eastern Notes: Adebayo, Raptors, Dick, Trent Jr., Wagner

December 5th, 2023 at 5:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bam Adebayo has already been ruled out of the Heat’s game against Toronto on Wednesday. The standout big man is uncertain whether he’ll be ready to go for Friday’s contest against Cleveland, he told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

“I have no idea,” said Adebayo, who is dealing with a hip contusion. “This is new to me…to be on the sideline. I get reevaluated when the team gets back from Toronto. We’ll have a conversation then.”

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With the Raptors potentially being sellers at the trade deadline, The Athletic’s Eric Koreen takes a look at five questions that will define the second quarter of their season. Among those questions is whether first-rounder Gradey Dick will start contributing to the NBA club and if coach Darko Rajakovic will swap in Gary Trent Jr. for Dennis Schröder in the starting five.
Exploring a similar topic, Michael Grange of Sportsnet writes that the Raptors are reaching a critical juncture after a 9-11 start. If they don’t show real improvement in the next two months, the front office will have little choice but to explore trades for Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and Trent, their three rotation players on expiring contacts, Grange suggests.
Franz Wagner takes on a variety of topics during an in-depth interview with Hoops Hype’s Michael Scotto. With the Magic off to a hot start, Wagner and his teammates have their sights set on the postseason. “I think we want to make the playoffs,” he said. “Last year, I think we were four or five games out of the play-in, and my first year, we didn’t win a lot of games at all, so that would be really cool. I’d be super excited for it, and we’ve still got more than 60 games left, so we’ve got to make sure that we keep putting in the work every day and keep getting better as well.”

Heat Notes: Jaquez, Adebayo, O. Robinson, Herro

December 2nd, 2023 at 7:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jaime Jaquez knew where he wanted to go in the draft, and he got his wish when Miami selected him with the 18th pick, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Projected as a mid-first rounder after spending four years at UCLA, Jaquez was aware that he might still be on the board for Miami’s selection and he was hoping for the chance to work with two legends.

“I think when it comes to basketball, just being under (team president) Pat Riley and coach Spo (Erik Spoelstra), I don’t think you could ask for two better guys when it comes to basketball to play under and learn from,” Jaquez said. “So that was a big reason. I also didn’t want to stay in L.A. for all my life. I wanted to get out and be somewhere new, kind of challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone. So coming to Miami was a spot that I always really loved. I had been here before a couple times and I just loved the city, loved everything about it. So I just really wanted to come here.”

The Heat are thrilled with the production they’ve gotten from Jaquez, who has been pressed into extra duty since an early-season injury to Tyler Herro. He has responded by averaging 12.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals in his first 19 NBA games. Chiang also notes that his shooting touch has been excellent — 52.9% from the field, 39% from three-point range and 87.5% from the free throw line — and he’s an asset on defense as well.

“He’s playing winning basketball,” Spoelstra said. “He’s able to complement a lot of different lineups. He’s eating up everything right now and he’s a smart player. So he picks up things quickly. But the biggest thing is he’s a competitor, he’s a mature player and those type of characteristics can fit in with what we’re trying to do.”

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Bam Adebayo will miss tonight’s game with a left hip contusion and he won’t travel with the team for Wednesday’s contest in Toronto, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Chiang points out that Miami has a lull in its schedule with just three games over nine days, so Adebayo will have a chance to heal (Twitter link).
Orlando Robinson‘s contract became guaranteed for $850K on Friday, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). The second-year center will receive his full $1.8MM salary if he remains on the roster through the league-wide guarantee date of January 7.
The Heat’s rotation has changed since Herro was injured, and Spoelstra will have to make more adjustments when he returns, observes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Winderman notes that when Herro sprained his ankle on November 8, Caleb Martin wasn’t playing significant minutes, Josh Richardson was still adjusting to the team and Jaquez hadn’t scored more than 11 points in a game. There were also questions about whether Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith could handle starting roles.

Injury Notes: Haliburton, Bam, K. Murray, Nuggets, Suns, Hornets

December 2nd, 2023 at 3:59pm CST by Rory Maher

Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton is expected to be out for Saturday’s game against Miami, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. Indiana’s best player is officially listed as questionable.

As Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star tweets, Haliburton missed the team’s shootaround this morning due to a right knee bone bruise and an upper respiratory infection. The Pacers went just 6-20 without Haliburton last season, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter).

Haliburton, who signed a five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension in the offseason, is off to an All-NBA-caliber start to 2023/24, averaging career highs of 27.0 points and a league-leading 11.8 assists per game while posting an elite .519/.447/.880 shooting line. The Pacers host the Celtics on Monday for the quarterfinal of the league’s inaugural in-season tournament, so hopefully he’ll be back in time for that contest.

Heat center Bam Adebayo has also been ruled out of Saturday’s contest due to a left hip contusion, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscriber link) wouldn’t be surprised to see Orlando Robinson get the starting nod in his place, with Kevin Love continuing to come off the bench due to the synergy he’s developing with the second unit.

Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:

Kings forward Keegan Murray, the No. 4 overall pick of last year’s draft, will return on Saturday against Denver after missing four games due to lower back soreness, sources tell Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 KTXL (Twitter link). As for the Nuggets, Jamal Murray (ankle) and Aaron Gordon (heel) are questionable after missing Friday’s game against Phoenix, according to Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports (Twitter link).
Suns star Devin Booker is questionable for Saturday’s contest vs. Memphis, notes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Booker, who is dealing with an ankle sprain, missed Friday’s game against Denver. Eric Gordon is also questionable due to a right knee contusion.
Hornets backup center Nick Richards will return to action on Saturday after missing the previous six games while in the league’s concussion protocol, the team announced (via Twitter). No. 2 overall pick Brandon Miller will also be available after missing Charlotte’s last game with a left ankle injury.

Southeast Notes: Adebayo, Heat, Magic, Wizards, McGowens, Smith

December 1st, 2023 at 2:14pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Heat center Bam Adebayo went to the locker room in the second quarter of Miami’s Thursday victory over the Pacers after re-aggravating a hip injury, then was later ruled out for the rest of the game.

“He came in those last four minutes of the second quarter and he was just getting some treatment at halftime with the intention to come back,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “I basically talked to him in my office and just said, ‘Look, you’re laboring like the fourth quarter of the New York game and it’s November right now. I’m not putting you back in in the second half. I’m taking this decision out of your hands.’ I didn’t even talk to the trainers at that point.”

This lingering hip issue has caused Adebayo to miss three games this season already. While it hasn’t yet kept him out of action long-term, it’s still worth monitoring Miami’s leading scorer and rebounder.

“It’s not, thankfully, something serious,” Spoelstra said. “It’s just you play competitive NBA basketball, you get hit, you’re jumping and you’re twisting, all that stuff. He heals fast, so we’ll continue to treat him and see where we are.”

With Adebayo out of action, the Heat turned to Thomas Bryant, who had previously been out of the rotation, but he only logged six minutes to start the second half. Orlando Robinson also saw some action, but Kevin Love took on the brunt of the workload at the position.

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Spoelstra made headlines this offseason when he said he felt the Heat were deeper this year than last. At the time, the Heat had just missed out on trading for Damian Lillard and lost Gabe Vincent and Max Strus to free agency. But Spoelstra appears to have been proven right, with Miami’s depth propelling the team in the early parts of the season, Chiang writes in a separate piece. Even with Tyler Herro unavailable, the Heat’s reserves outscored Indiana’s bench 66-23 on Thursday. Love, Josh Richardson, Caleb Martin and Jaime Jaquez are among the bench players currently flourishing. “That’s scary, man,” Martin said. “Shoot, Duncan is coming off a hand injury, you got Tyler who’s not even back in the mix. We got a lot of guys we can turn to and that’s the scary thing about it. … We just got a lot of talented dudes who are ready whenever their name is going to be called.“
The Magic, whose 13-5 record is the second-best in the NBA, are one of the league’s top teams. Josh Robbins of The Athletic analyzes how Orlando set the standard for what a rebuild should look like, and compares it to how the Wizards have started theirs. As Robbins observes, the Magic sold high on their core at the right time, primarily by turning Nikola Vucevic into Franz Wagner, a baton handoff for franchise cornerstone, by way of trade. Robbins opines that for the Wizards, the best time to trade Bradley Beal, their centerpiece at the time, was from 2019-21. Then, when former decision-makers gave Beal a no-trade clause, it forced newly hired president Michael Winger and general manager Will Dawkins to sell low on the three-time All-Star, failing to kick-start a rebuild in the way the Magic did when they traded Vucevic.
Hornets guards Bryce McGowens and Nick Smith are both getting increased opportunities in Charlotte, with each scoring season highs in Thursday’s win over the Nets. “Bryce is just putting a lot of work in and it’s showing,” Charlotte guard Terry Rozier said, per The Charlotte Observer’s Roderick Boone. “That’s all it is. We are all happy for him and hopefully he can keep it going.” Smith said he’s enjoying the chance to contribute as a young rookie.

Heat Notes: Adebayo, Bryant, Martin, Richardson

November 30th, 2023 at 7:34pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Heat center Bam Adebayo is taking his game to new heights this season as he becomes more aggressive on the court than ever before, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

Adebayo’s latest game, Tuesday’s loss to the Bucks, saw the seventh-year center set a career high with 27 field-goal attempts, along with season highs in points and minutes. The two-time All-Star did this against an interior defense spearheaded by 2022/23 Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Brook Lopez and five-time All-Defensive Team selection Giannis Antetokounmpo.

“He was just super assertive,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Adebayo. “That’s what we need from Bam. He was really aggressive getting into the paint, creating those paint opportunities that normally Jimmy is so great at for us. Now we have a lot of guys with that ability to do that. But Bam was relentless all game long and that just shows you his capacity to do it on both ends.”

Adebayo is currently averaging career highs of 23.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in addition to his 4.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. His play has him under consideration for his third All-Star Game as well as for Defensive Player of the Year and/or an All-NBA selection.

As Chiang observes, being named Defensive Player of the Year or being selected to an All-NBA Team would make Adebayo eligible to sign a four-year super-max extension this upcoming offseason. His teammates have been vocal about Adebayo’s continued evolution.

“I think he should be a lock for All-NBA this year,” Richardson said. “He’s really been carrying a lot of the load for us this year.”

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Center Thomas Bryant was signed over the offseason to help stabilize the Heat’s non-Adebayo minutes, but he has fallen out of the rotation as Kevin Love has produced positive minutes in that role. According to Chiang in a separate story, Bryant said it’s been an adjustment but that he’s staying ready for anything. “Everything being communicated is just staying ready, going over things that I’ve done before, just keep improving on everything and just stay with it,” Bryant said. “‘Your time is coming’ whenever it might be, so it’s always about a stay ready mind-set and just always staying ready no matter what the outcome is.“
Forward Caleb Martin is continuing to work his way back into form after a lingering knee injury kept him out of most of the preseason and 10 straight games at one point this season, according to Chiang. After averaging 5.8 points on 30.6% shooting in his first five games back, Martin scored 22 points on Saturday against the Nets. “I want quick results, I want to just get back to my normal self, too,” Martin said. “I just know it’s going to take some time. So I accept that and figure out how to go with that.“
With Dru Smith out for the season and Tyler Herro recovering from his own injury, Josh Richardson has adopted the Heat’s backup point guard position for the time being, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel observes. “I play with kind of both units,” Richardson said. “So with the first unit, it’s more so spacing, giving Jimmy and Bam kind of like an outlet. With the second unit, I kind of got to be a paint-touch guy. We have Duncan [Robinson] out there running around. So it’s kind of fluid. It’s one thing that I’ve got to figure out.“

Heat Notes: Jovic, Adebayo, Smith, Bouyea

November 25th, 2023 at 2:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Heat forward Nikola Jovic was assigned to the G League for nearly a week, but will be back with the NBA club on Saturday, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. According to Chiang, Jovic saw plenty of time at the five during his stint with the Sioux Falls Skyforce and believes that he may have a clearer path to playing time if he can get accustomed to playing center.

“I think it’s going to be the fastest way to get on the court because we have a lot of fours,” Jovic said. “It’s something that everybody can see. At five right now, we have Bam (Adebayo) and Kevin Love is coming off the bench as like a stretch five. So I think and I think the coaches also think the fastest way for me to get back on the court will be just playing at the five.”

While Adebayo typically gets the brunt of the playing time in the middle, he has been ruled out for Saturday’s game in Brooklyn – the second in a back-to-back set – due to a left hip injury (Twitter link via the team). Adebayo’s absence could result in an immediate opportunity for Jovic to get some minutes. Still, head coach Erik Spoelstra indicated he won’t be viewing the 20-year-old Serbian only as a center.

“I want to get him minutes at both positions,” Spoelstra said, per Chiang. “… And when he plays five for us, it looks a little bit different than it does down there (in the G League). He’s got a lot more bigger wings and there’s a dimension that can really help Jimmy (Butler) that’s intriguing to us. So he has to gobble up all those different experiences and it will change game to game.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

According to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link), the Heat confirmed on Friday that Dru Smith will eventually require surgery on his ACL injury, which will sideline him for the rest of the season. Erik Spoelstra also reiterated his dissatisfaction with the sideline area of the court in Cleveland where Smith fell and suffered the injury. “Maybe this is something that can be addressed with the league moving forward,” he said (Twitter link via Winderman). “I doubt anything will change with the floor. It is a hazard in our mind and probably in a lot of other teams’ minds, too.”
After being cut by Portland and clearing waivers, guard Jamaree Bouyea is rejoining the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s G League affiliate, tweets Winderman. Bouyea opened the season with the Skyforce before spending 10 days on a two-way contract with the Trail Blazers.
Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype takes a closer look at the Heat’s roster, suggesting that if the team makes a trade before the deadline, the priority should be to try to bring some long-term stability to the point guard position.

Southeast Notes: Fultz, Howard, Coulibaly, Heat

November 23rd, 2023 at 5:55pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Magic starting point guard Markelle Fultz has missed seven straight games with left knee tendinitis, and it appears for now he’s still being limited to individual workouts, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).

“We’ll continue to evaluate him on a daily basis to see how he responds to the treatment that he’s getting,” head coach Jahmal Mosley said. “…[We’ve] practiced once, which I think you saw him the other day on the court, [he was] doing some individual work with our guys. That’s the extent of what he’s doing.”

When healthy, the 6’4″ vet has produced, averaging 11.4 PPG, 4.0 APG, 3.4 RPG and 1.2 SPG across five games for Orlando.

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Magic rookie lottery pick Jett Howard starred in his first game with Orlando’s NBAGL affiliate, the Osceola Magic. He notched 34 points, including seven made triples, per Alex Kennedy of Basketball News (via Twitter). “The G League is a lot of fun,” Howard said. “My teammates made the game easy for me. Getting reps in with these guys during Orlando’s training camp made it a seamless transition. It’s been great to be part of winning teams with the Magic.”
Wizards rookie forward Bilal Coulibaly‘s growth is already impressing head coach Wes Unseld Jr., writes Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. “He’s done really well with the amount that we’ve thrown at him,” Unseld said. “The opportunity is probably something he’s dreamed of, so he seems like he’s in a great place. We always talk about the potential of a rookie wall, whether that’s physically or mentally, but he’s not showing any sign of that. He’s just attacking each day. He’s showing a lot of consistency in his work, and that’s paying dividends on the floor.” The 6’6″ wing was selected with the seventh pick in this June’s draft. He’s averaging 8.4 PPG on .506/.439/.619 shooting, along with 3.6 RPG, 1.9 APG, 0.9 SPG and 0.8 BPG.
Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo and swingman Duncan Robinson are both questionable to suit up against the Knicks on Friday, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). Adebayo is dealing with a hip injury, while Robinson is suffering through a thumb ailment.