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Heat Notes: Swider, Cain, Audige, Herro

August 7th, 2023 at 12:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat have been quiet while hoping for a Damian Lillard trade to materialize, but they reached an agreement Sunday with Cole Swider on an Exhibit 10 training camp deal, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The former Lakers forward spent most of last season in the G League on a two-way contract.

Chiang hears that Swider will have a chance to compete for a two-way deal with Miami and possibly even a spot on the 15-man roster. As a 6’9″ long-range shooter, Swider could have some value for a team that lost three-point threats Max Strus and Gabe Vincent in free agency. Duncan Robinson, a similar player, may be sent elsewhere in a potential Lillard deal, Chiang adds.

Swider made a verbal commitment to the Heat, according to Chiang, but if the team intends to include Exhibit 9 language in his deal, he can’t officially sign until the team has at least 14 players with standard deals. Drew Peterson, another 6’9″ sharpshooter who played for Miami’s Summer League team, is in a similar situation.

There’s more from Miami:

  • With the commitments from Swider and Peterson, along with 13 standard contracts and a pair of two-way deals, the Heat have four more roster spots to fill before training camp opens, Chiang adds. One of those could go to power forward Jamal Cain, who received a qualifying offer to return to the team on a two-way contract. Cain is still searching for a standard deal, which Miami has been reluctant to offer, according to Chiang. The deadline to rescind the two-way offer passed in July, so Cain is free to accept it at any time.
  • The Heat also contacted Northwestern guard Chase Audige about an Exhibit 10 contract, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. However, a source tells Jackson that Audige has decided to accept an Exhibit 10 offer from another team where he believes he has a better chance to earn a roster spot.
  • Zach Kram of The Ringer takes an in-depth look at Tyler Herro to determine whether he’s valuable enough to be the central piece in a Lillard trade. Miami is hoping to find a third team to take Herro and increase the number of draft assets going to Portland. Kram finds that Herro is part of a star-studded group that averaged at least 20 points, five rebounds and four assists per game at age 23, but his defensive limitations put a cap on his trade value.
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Heat Notes: Lillard Trade, Cain, Peterson, Summer League

July 21st, 2023 at 1:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat are getting “frustrated” over the slow pace of trade talks with the Trail Blazers regarding Damian Lillard, Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report said on the latest edition of the “This League Uncut” podcast (hat tip to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports). It’s been nearly three weeks since Lillard made his trade request and told Portland officials that he wants to play in Miami, but there’s been very little progress toward a deal.

“Portland is telling them to, ‘Bring us your best offer.’ Miami would like to know what does Portland want and Miami is not getting that answer,” Haynes said. “And so they feel like things could be moving on a little bit quicker if Portland would say exactly what it is they want. Because obviously, Miami doesn’t have all the assets that Portland would want in a return for a Damian Lillard trade. So they want to know, okay, what do we have to get out there? What other teams do we have to get involved to make this work? And so far, the communication is just not there.”

On the Heat Check podcast, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald expressed doubt that the Blazers are trying very hard to grant Lillard’s trade request, at least for now. Chiang said a source told him that Portland may be planning to hold onto Lillard for a while to see if he changes his mind about his future with the team.

That thought is echoed by Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, who tweets that a team that contacted the Blazers about Lillard is skeptical that they actually want to move him. Jackson suggests that Portland’s goal may be to get Lillard into training camp, unless he makes the situation really uncomfortable for the rest of the summer.

There’s more from Miami:

  • Jamal Cain has a qualifying offer to return to the Heat on a two-way contract, but he’s hoping for a standard deal, whether it’s with Miami or another team, Chiang writes in a Herald story. The 24-year-old power forward appeared in 18 NBA games as a two-way player last season. Cain is a restricted free agent, so Miami can match any offer he receives, but the QO can’t be pulled because the deadline has already passed. Several teams have interest in Cain, according to Chiang.
  • Miami can’t sign players to Exhibit 10 deals until it has 14 players with standard contracts, but the team has received some verbal commitments, Chiang adds. One of them is from Drew Peterson, a 6’9″ shooting specialist from USC who played for the Heat’s Summer League team. Chiang suggests that Miami could take several weeks to sign any Exhibit 10 players while the front office waits to see if a Lillard trade materializes.
  • Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel examines Miami’s Summer League roster and looks at who did the most to help their future with the organization.
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Heat Notes: Lillard, Peterson, Jaquez, C. Butler

July 16th, 2023 at 4:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Although Heat rookie forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. played in just one full Summer League contest and less than half of a second before being shut down due to a shoulder ailment, Miami already likes what it’s seeing out of the UCLA alum.

Heat general manager Andy Elisburg raved about Jaquez’ fit during an interview on WQAM, as recounted by Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

“I think he’s our type of guy,” Elisburg said. “I think he comes from the same kind of ethos that we think we value, with players that we value. He has that kind of competitiveness and the work ethic that you want to see.

“… You’re excited to see what he’s able to do as he takes his game and grows it. At this point in time, he’s got things he does well, things he can do better at. And the great players take the things that they can do better at, and become better at that.”

There’s more out of Miami:

  • Given how pricey the final two years of Damian Lillard‘s contract are, the Heat are currently not particularly inclined to increase their offer for the Trail Blazers point guard, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN recently revealed during an interview on the network (Twitter video link via ClutchPoints). “The Miami Heat, the team that is most motivated to trade for Damian Lillard, where he wants to end up, they don’t want to be in a situation where they’re bidding against themselves right now,” Woj said (hat tip to HoopsHype for the transcription). “They look out into the marketplace, they see teams that are – they know the market does not love the idea of paying Damian Lillard a $60MM average at 35 and 36 years old over the last two years of that deal. If this was a contract with two years left, it would be different, perhaps. So there’s no rush for either side to be real aggressive in their conversations with each other.”
  • Drew Peterson, an undrafted combo forward out of USC, has been making waves as a sharpshooter while playing for the Heat’s Summer League club. Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald wonders if the 6’9″ prospect could become Miami’s latest undrafted diamond-in-the-rough discovery. He will reportedly sign an Exhibit 10 training camp deal with the team. His size and shooting ability already appears to be intriguing the club. “Because he caught on to the team continuity and understood the concept of what we were trying to get accomplished,” assistant coach and Summer League head coach Caron Butler said. “From the spacing standpoint, playing off the other guys, the handlers, catch-and-goes, he’s done a remarkable job with that.” Across his three games with the Heat, Peterson is connecting on 57.1% of his 4.7 long range tries per contest.
  • Butler, an All-Star in his playing days, has unexpectedly fallen in love with coaching, Chiang writes in another Miami Herald story.  “I didn’t know that I was going to fall in love with the game and the teaching and all those things,” Butler told Chiang. “But it’s something that I just can’t see myself not doing now because of the connection with the players and seeing them get it and the information that you instill in them. That feeling is priceless.” After retiring from the league in 2016, Butler served as a TV analyst, first for the college game with ESPN in 2017, and subsequently for the Lakers, Wizards and the NBA at large with various networks. He joined Erik Spoelstra‘s coaching staff for the 2020/21 season.
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Eastern Notes: Pacers, Quickley, Hawks, Bucks, Beal

June 15th, 2023 at 8:04am CST by Luke Adams

No team holds more picks in the 2023 NBA draft than the Pacers, who have had another full week of pre-draft workouts at the Ascension St. Vincent Center in Indianapolis.

The Pacers hosted Marcus Carr (Texas), Kendric Davis (Memphis), Zvonimir Ivisic (Croatia), Drew Peterson (USC), Julian Phillips (Tennessee), and Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky) for a group workout on Monday, then brought in D’Moi Hodge (Missouri), Colby Jones (Xavier), Omari Moore (San Jose State), Kevin Obanor (Texas Tech), Olivier-Maxence Prosper (Marquette), and Malachi Smith (Gonzaga) on Tuesday.

The most notable workout of the team’s week so far is happening on Thursday, with the Pacers scheduled to host Gradey Dick. The Kansas guard could be a player Indiana considers with its lottery pick at No. 7.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • With Immanuel Quickley becoming eligible next month for a rookie scale extension, Fred Katz of The Athletic polled 15 front office members around the NBA to get a sense of what a “fair” extension for the Knicks guard would look like. Of those 15 participants, 11 projected an annual salary between $16-20MM, with five specifically suggesting $72MM over four years.
  • Discussing his newly completed coaching staff, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder told Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he wanted a strong player development group made up of “selfless” individuals who would help instill that philosophy in Atlanta’s players. “It’s like putting any team together that whether it’s, tactical experience, analytics experience, literally different cultures and genders and all the different things that go into making a unique, strong group,” Snyder said. “But ‘The Thin Red Line’ to me that runs through all of it was, just selfless people that are able to put the group in front of themselves and I really want our staff to model that because that’s what we’re asking of our team.”
  • Eric Nehm of The Athletic breaks down the rumor identifying the Bucks as a possible Bradley Beal suitor, examining how Milwaukee could build a package to acquire Beal and weighing whether or not the star guard would actually make a better long-term building block than Jrue Holiday or Khris Middleton. As Nehm notes, while Beal is younger than Holiday or Middleton, he’s not as solid a defender as either of those current Bucks.
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Eastern Notes: Hawks, Quickley, Rubio, Celtics, Redick

May 10th, 2023 at 7:33pm CST by Rory Maher

The Hawks held pre-draft workouts with six college players on Thursday and will be hosting six more on Friday, the team announced (Twitter links).

Thursday’s group featured Alex Fudge (Florida), Logan Johnson (St. Mary’s), Matthew Mayer (Illinois), Kevin Obanor (Texas Tech), Antonio Reeves (Kentucky) and Hunter Tyson (Clemson), while Marcus Carr (Texas), Kendric Davis (Memphis), Tosan Evbuomwan (Princeton), Landers Nolley (Cincinnati), Drew Peterson (USC) and Erik Stevenson (West Virginia) will be working out tomorrow.

Of the players mentioned, only Evbuomwan — who helped lead the 15th-seeded Tigers to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament — appears on ESPN’s top-100 prospects list ahead of the draft; he’s considered a fringe second-round pick at No. 77. The Hawks control the 15th and 46th overall picks in June’s draft.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • Trailing 3-1 and facing playoff elimination tonight, the Knicks will be without Sixth Man of the Year runner-up Immanuel Quickley for the second straight game due to a left ankle sprain, head coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters, including Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Thibodeau did say the third-year guard’s injury has improved, but obviously not enough to play. He’s still considered day-to-day, Begley adds. Reserve guard Evan Fournier (illness) will also be sidelined, per the Knicks (Twitter link) — the veteran has yet to play this postseason.
  • Cavaliers guard Ricky Rubio didn’t have the season he was hoping for after returning from his second left ACL tear, but he and the team are hoping for better results in 2023/24, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Sources tell Fedor the Cavs are encouraging Rubio to play in this summer’s World Cup for Spain, but the veteran hasn’t made a decision on that front. “I think it will help,” Rubio said. “I’m going to meet with my team, my personal team, see what’s the best for me in rehab. I think I’ve got to get more even strength on my lower legs, lower body and see what’s the best for me. I always want to compete up. The World Cup is something special as well. But I will take my time.”
  • Former NBA veteran JJ Redick, who is now an ESPN analyst, recently interviewed for Toronto’s head coaching job. The Celtics are among “several teams” that have shown interest in hiring Redick as an assistant coach since he retired a couple years ago, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
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50 Prospects Reportedly Invited To G League Elite Camp

May 5th, 2023 at 8:12am CST by Luke Adams

A total of 50 prospects for the 2023 NBA draft have been invited to the NBA’s G League Elite Camp, according to reports from Adam Zagoria of Forbes and Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report (Twitter links).

Those players are as follows:

The name of the G League Elite Camp is a bit of a misnomer — when first introduced, the event showcased NBAGL players, but the field of participants now consists exclusively of draft prospects. The event will take place on May 13 and 14 in Chicago, ahead of this year’s draft combine.

Like the combine, the Elite Camp brings young players to Chicago to meet NBA teams and participate in drills and scrimmages. While the combine focuses on the top prospects in a given draft class, the Elite Camp generally features prospects who are trying to break into that upper echelon of prospects but are more likely to go undrafted. The top performers at the event typically receive invites to the combine.

Of the 50 G League Elite Camp invitees, 15 show up on Jonathan Givony’s list of this year’s top 100 prospects at ESPN.com. However, no Elite Camp invitee ranks higher than No. 58 (Hart) on ESPN’s board.

The G League Elite Camp will give the invitees who declared for the draft as early entrants an opportunity to see where they stand ahead of the draft withdrawal deadline on May 31. Not all of the players who participate in this event will remain in the draft pool.

Some NBA players who have participated in past G League Elite Camps include Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado, Pacers forward Oshae Brissett, Clippers guard Terance Mann, and Heat wing Max Strus.

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David Roddy, John Butler, Caleb Houstan Staying In Draft

June 1st, 2022 at 5:45pm CST by Rory Maher

Colorado State swingman David Roddy and Florida State big man John Butler Jr. both plan to stay in the 2022 NBA draft, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter links).

Both players have a chance to hear their names called on June 23; Roddy is currently ranked No. 47 on ESPN’s big board, while Butler is No. 72.

In 31 games (32.9 MPG) as a junior in 2021/22, Roddy stuffed the stat sheet with averages of 19.2 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.2 SPG, and 1.1 BPG on .571/.438/.691. The 7’1″ Butler had a lesser role in his lone season for FSU, averaging 5.9 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.2 BPG in 31 games (19 MPG), but he did shoot an impressive .393 from three-point range.

Michigan’s Caleb Houstan will also stay in the draft, according to a team press release (via Twitter). The guard/forward averaged 10.1 PPG, 4 RPG, and 1.4 APG on .384/.355/.783 shooting for the Wolverines as a freshman in ’21/22.

Houstan is No. 49 on ESPN’s board, but there have been rumors that he received a first-round promise, with some league insiders speculating that it may have come from OKC at No. 30.

Here are more updates on the early entrants who are up against the NCAA’s withdrawal deadline:

  • Pete Nance, the younger brother of Larry Nance Jr., will withdraw from the draft and transfer from Northwestern, per Jeff Goodman of Stadium (twitter link). Nance averaged 14.6 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.7 APG and 1.1 BPG for the Wildcats last season. He’s No. 77 on ESPN’s board and will use his extra year of eligibility to play a fifth college season.
  • Florida A&M’s MJ Randolph and Coastal Carolina’s Vince Cole are both staying in the draft, as Rothstein relays (Twitter links). Both players were seniors in 2021/22, but could have used an extra year of eligibility to play one more season in college. Instead, they’ll turn pro.
  • Drew Peterson is withdrawing from the draft and using his extra year of eligibility to return to USC next season, tweets Rothstein. Peterson, who recently worked out for the Lakers, averaged 12.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 3.3 APG on .467/.412/.717 shooting for the Trojans last season (34 games, 33 MPG).
  • Forward Jalen Wilson is also withdrawing from the draft and returning to Kansas for his senior season, Goodman reports (via Twitter). Jayhawks fans will certainly be happy to hear the news, as he averaged 11.1 PPG and 7.4 for the champs last season.
  • Mouhamed Gueye will withdraw from the draft and transfer from Washington State, Goodman tweets. The 6-foot-11 big man averaged 7.4 PPG and 5.2 RPG for the Cougars in ’21/22.
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Pacific Notes: Ham, Lakers, Kings, Warriors

May 29th, 2022 at 1:52pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Newly-hired Lakers head coach Darvin Ham is earning high praise from those who know him, according to Broderick Turner and Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times.

Ham, who was a Lakers assistant coach from 2011-13 and won a title against L.A. as a player on the Pistons in 2004, has served as an assistant under head coach Mike Budenholzer with the Hawks and Bucks for the past nine seasons. The Bucks won the 2021 NBA championship with Ham on Budenholzer’s staff.

“His work ethic in practice and when we put him in the game, he always seemed to deliver,” former Knicks head coach and current Indiana University coach Mike Woodson said of Ham. “So, you knew that the fact he got into coaching, I knew it would work because that’s a big part of being a good coach. You got to work.”

Metta Sandiford-Artest, who played on the Lakers teams where Ham first cut his coaching teeth as a development assistant under Mike Brown, also had high praise for Ham.  “He definitely understands modern basketball,” Sandiford-Artest said. “He also is capable of communicating in a way where you can receive it the right way.”

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

  • The Lakers held workouts on Saturday for six NBA hopefuls, per Matthew Barrero of Lakers.com. Baylor guard James Akinjo, Connecticut guard Tyrese Martin, Syracuse forward Cole Swider, USC guard Drew Peterson, Texas A&M guard Quenton Jackson, and Alabama guard Keon Ellis all got a look from the L.A. front office brass. Though Los Angeles does not possess a draft pick this season, the team could trade into the second round or sign an undrafted rookie as a free agent. “There is a good side to it if you’re able to choose your team,” Ellis said. “Even if it happens to be myself, you can’t get too down on it or overthink it. There’s been guys who have gone undrafted and come back with great stories.”
  • The Kings, who possess the fourth pick in the 2022 draft, had at least two key representatives take a look at several high-level prospects during recent pro day workouts in Southern California, writes Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. Team owner Vivek Ranadive and GM Monte McNair attended a CAA pro day workout for Purdue shooting guard Jaden Ivey and Duke small forward AJ Griffin. McNair attended an additional pro day with another top-10-level player, Arizona shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin, Anderson notes, examining the potential fit of each player.
  • Injured Warriors role players Gary Payton II, Otto Porter Jr. and Andre Iguodala will be gradually included in team practices ahead of the 2022 NBA Finals this week as they continue to recuperate from their respective ailments, per Kendra Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link). The club has leaned on 2021 lottery picks Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody for help in the absence of Payton, Porter and Iguodala.
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Pacific Notes: Zubac, Curry, Lakers Draft, Coaching Search

May 27th, 2022 at 5:40pm CST by Rory Maher

As we noted in our Clippers offseason preview earlier today, L.A. holds a $7,518,518 team option on center Ivica Zubac, who is also extension-eligible this offseason. He said this week that he enjoys playing for the team and hopes to stick around.

“I want to stay and I think they want to keep me,” Zubac told Antonis Stroggylakis of Eurohoops.net. “I think I should be there and they’re going to pick (the option) up. I like Los Angeles a lot and I like the Clippers. It’s like a family to me. Hopefully, everything is going to work out.”

Zubac notched several career-high marks in 2021/22, including games played (76, all starts), minutes per game (24.4), points (10.3), rebounds (8.5) and blocks (1.0). He said he hopes his role continues to expand going forward.

“It’s great,” Zubac said about the trust he receives from Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. “I hope that keeps on going. Every year I get more and more minutes so, hopefully, by the next year I’ll get even more. The coach trusts me, the teammates trust me and I’m really enjoying my time there.”

Here’s more from the Pacific:

  • Warriors star Stephen Curry, who was recently named the Western Conference Finals MVP, could have pushed Golden State to trade its high draft picks and prospects to improve the roster the past couple seasons, but he said the team’s patience was rewarded as it heads to the Finals for the sixth time in eight years. “That’s not how I operate,” Curry told Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “There were conversations and different paths to take, and we all had conversations about going different ways. But at the end of the day, I have a lot of trust in (president/GM) Bob (Myers), a lot of confidence in what we’re about. There was no panic. Obviously, it helps that we had won a couple championships. It affords patience. But there was no panic in terms of getting me, Klay (Thompson) and Draymond (Green) another run at it, figuring out how we could get pieces around us to make it work. It’s just patience at the end of the day.”
  • The Lakers don’t currently own a draft pick, but that isn’t stopping them from working out six prospects on Saturday, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic. The six players are Villanova’s Collin Gillespie, UConn’s Tyrese Martin, USC’s Drew Peterson, Alabama’s Keon Ellis, Syracuse’s Cole Swider, and Texas A&M’s Quenton Jackson. Ellis, Gillespie and Martin are all in the 60s on ESPN’s big board, while Jackson is No. 95; both Peterson and Swider are unranked. There’s a good chance at least a few prospects in the group will go undrafted.
  • Sean Deveney of Heavy.com queried rival front office executives to get their opinions on the Lakers‘ head coaching search, with some mixed opinions on which candidates might be favored by certain segments of the team.
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Draft Notes: Peterson, Mutts, Mohammed, Rhoden, Miles

April 11th, 2022 at 11:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

USC’s Drew Peterson will test the draft waters while maintaining his college eligibility, he announced on his Twitter page. The 6’9” Peterson averaged 12.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 3.3 APG this past season. He has started the past two seasons for the Trojans after two seasons with Rice.

We have more draft-related decisions:

  • Virginia Tech’s Justyn Mutts has declared for the draft while maintaining his college eligibility, he announced on Twitter. The senior forward averaged 10.1 PPG, 7.4 RPG and 3.4 APG this past season.
  • Georgetown freshman swingman Aminu Mohammed will go through the process, his guardian confirmed to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com. “We will go through the draft process and let that play out,” his guardian Shawn Harmon said. “Any other decision counter to that will be made at the appropriate time.” Mohammed averaged 13.7 PPG and 8.2 RPG for the Hoyas.
  • Seton Hall’s Jared Rhoden will forego a fifth year of eligibility and turn pro, Zagoria reports in a separate story. The 6’6” Rhoden averaged 15.5 PPG and 6.7 RPG for the Pirates. He’s been invited to the Portsmouth Invitational.
  • After initially testing the draft waters, TCU’s Mike Miles has changed course and will return to school, Rothstein tweets. The sophomore guard averaged 15.4 PPG and 3.8 APG in 31 starts.
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