Jimmy Butler Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat Notes: Herro, Waiters, Winslow, Butler, Arena

November 3rd, 2019 at 5:27pm CST by JD Shaw

Heat rookie Tyler Herro has impressed during his first five games with the franchise, scorching teams on the offensive end and displaying a level of maturity not typically seen in 19-year-old players.

Herro, the No. 13 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, has averaged 16.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 32.2 minutes per contest thus far. He holds shooting marks of 45% from the floor and 36% from three-point range, starting in three of those five games. He’s slated to once again come off the bench against Houston on Sunday night.

“This is my first time [coming off the bench], but I’m willing to do whatever coach wants me to do,” Herro said, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “Whether it’s start or come off the bench — whatever is best for the team.

“I’ve never come off the bench, so as long as I’m playing my minutes — and however much coach thinks that should be. But as long as I’m playing my minutes that I’ve earned, then I’m good.”

Many league observers tabbed Herro as most likely to start at shooting guard for Miami this season, but the elevated play from fellow rookie Kendrick Nunn (22.4 PPG on 52% shooting) has kept Herro from receiving a solidified starting role.

The Heat have opened the 2019/20 season at 4-1, with their only loss coming on the road to Minnesota during the second half of a back-to-back.

There’s more out of Miami tonight:

Dion Waiters will be available to play for the Heat in their home game against the Rockets on Sunday, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). Waiters was suspended by the team for their first game after expressing frustration over his lack of playing time in the preseason, with the 27-year-old being listed as out since then.
Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel examines whether a Justise Winslow–Jimmy Butler pairing will work for the team. Both Winslow and Butler share similar play styles, working hard on the defensive end while mostly operating inside the arc offensively.
TD Bank has had serious discussions with Miami-Dade County to acquire naming rights for the Heat’s arena, Jackson writes for the Miami Herald. One source labeled TD Bank as front-runners to acquire naming rights for the arena, according to Jackson, though another source cautioned that other companies still remain in the mix. American Airlines will not be pursuing a renewal of its 20-year contract for naming rights.

Sixers Expect To Pay Luxury Tax In 2020/21

November 1st, 2019 at 5:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Sixers managing partner Josh Harris anticipates that the team will be a luxury tax payer for the 2020-21 season, as he told Rich Hofmann of The Athletic in a Q&A session that also included GM Elton Brand.

Harris said there “are definitely issues” that come with being a taxpayer, including some roster restrictions. But he has no qualms about that prospect.

“If that’s what it takes to win, we’re going to do it,” he said.

The luxury tax threshold is approximately $132.6MM and Philadelphia is currently a few million below that number. However, the Sixers already have nearly $144MM in contract guarantees for next season. That’s due in large part to Ben Simmons‘ max extension. He’ll jump from $8.11MM this season to $29MM in the first year of that extension. The combined salaries for Tobias Harris, Joel Embiid and Al Horford next season total up to more than $91MM.

Harris and Brand provided some other interesting insights in the Q&A:

Harris expects the team to get deeper in the playoffs and everyone is accountable: “I think we all feel some pressure. Elton does. I do. Brett and the players all want to deliver for the city,” he said.
Harris had hoped Jimmy Butler would re-sign but was impressed by the way the front office shifted gears to re-sign Harris, acquire Josh Richardson in a sign-and-trade with Miami, and bring in high-profile free agent Horford. “He obviously had a lot of choices and we’re happy for him that he’s with a great organization,” Harris said of Butler. “But for us, the job that Elton and his team did to pick up Al Horford and Josh Richardson on the heels of that and to get Josh Richardson back in a sign-and-trade obviously, I watched it from the inside and it was incredible.”
Brand presents Harris with various scenarios in free agency and trades to spell out how each move would impact the bottom line: Brand told Hofmann how he breaks it down to his boss. “Hey, these are our options. If this happens, I don’t know, but this player could be available, this player could be available, this player could be available. This looks like a 50-win season, this looks like a 55, our penetration could be this in the second round to the Eastern Conference Finals, to the finals. If we lose this player and can’t do a sign-and-trade, we’re going to be here.”

Southeast Notes: Heat, Hornets, Thomas, Wizards

October 25th, 2019 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

As we relayed earlier today, Dion Waiters won’t travel with the Heat this weekend as he looks ahead to potentially making his season debut next Tuesday. However, he won’t be the only Miami veteran who is potentially away from the team on its road trip.

Head coach Erik Spoelstra said today that the Heat are planning to be without Jimmy Butler and James Johnson for Saturday’s game in Milwaukee and Sunday’s contest in Minnesota, per the team (Twitter link). Butler’s regular-season debut with Miami has been postponed due to the birth of his daughter, while Johnson is still working on his conditioning.

According to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link), Udonis Haslem is also dealing with a wrist injury and won’t play on Saturday, so two-way players Daryl Macon and Chris Silva should both be active, joining the other 10 players on the Heat’s standard roster. Miami has one open spot on its roster but can’t currently fill it due to hard-cap limitations.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

Terry Rozier, the Hornets‘ big offseason acquisition, struggled in his debut on Wednesday and found himself on the bench down the stretch as Devonte’ Graham handled point guard duties, racking up 23 points and eight assists. That may not happen often, but James Borrego‘s decision to roll with Graham showed that the Hornets head coach is willing to make good on his preseason promise to dole out minutes based on performance, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
While Isaiah Thomas isn’t quite ready to return from his thumb injury, he believes he’s capable of helping the Wizards and improving his own stock in the process — and he thinks head coach Scott Brooks will put him in position to do just that, writes Fred Katz of The Athletic. “He wants what’s best for me,” Thomas said of Brooks. “He wants me to play well, obviously, and get what I deserve. And that’s to get paid one day.”
Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington examines the Wizards‘ options for filling Jordan McRae‘s minutes as the guard recovers from a broken finger.

Eastern Notes: Oladipo, McCaw, Richardson, Prince

October 18th, 2019 at 9:03pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Victor Oladipo will begin participating in some full-contact 5-on-5 half-court scrimmages in the coming days but he still has more hurdles to clear before he’ll return to action, Tyler Kraft and Nathan Brown of the Indianapolis Star report. The Pacers have yet to announce a target date for the star guard, who suffered a ruptured quad tendon last season.

“He’s been doing some things 1-on-1,” Pacers head coach Nate McMillan said. “But this is a good sign. They’re going slowly to try to work him into being able to go every day, but it’s good news to know he’ll be able to participate in that first part of practice.”

We have more Eastern Conference news:

Raptors swingman Patrick McCaw had an MRI on his left knee which revealed no structural damage, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets. McCaw suffered the injury during a preseason game last weekend. The Raptors re-signed McCaw to a two-year deal in July.
The Sixers were interested in acquiring Josh Richardson last season from the Heat before they traded for Jimmy Butler, Michael Lee of The Athletic reports. The Sixers were open to being a third party when the Heat were in trade talks with the Timberwolves for Butler with Philadelphia targeting Richardson. When those talks collapsed, the Sixers eventually worked out a trade for Butler. Those two swingmen were the main components of the sign-and-trade this summer when Butler agreed to join Miami.
Forward Taurean Prince is hopeful that he can reached an extension agreement with the Nets prior to Monday’s deadline, as he told Brian Lewis of the New York Post. He’ll be a restricted free agent next summer if he doesn’t sign an extension. “I want to be here as long as I can. And whatever happens, happens, but I’m just happy to play good basketball,” Prince said. “One hundred percent, yeah. For sure. This is the best organization I’ve been in.”

Heat Notes: Butler, Reed, Nunn, Johnson

October 6th, 2019 at 8:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Heat fans have already embraced Jimmy Butler, which was evident during an intrasquad scrimmage, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald notes. Fans broke out a “We love Jimmy” chant during the proceedings.

“I think the fan base feels the same way we do about Jimmy,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We just feel that he has Heat DNA, that he was meant to play here and meant to put on a Miami Heat uniform. He has a magnetic personality that the fan base is really going to enjoy and he’s a very good basketball player.”

We have more on the Heat:

Guard Davon Reed is competing for a two-way deal but he hopes to eventually receive a standard contract, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes. Reed, who spent most of last season with the Pacers’ G League affiliate, was signed to an Exhibit 10 contract in September. “I can do a lot of different things,” he said. “There’s a lot of facets to my game. Most important, I’m going to put my team first. I think my energy, my effort, my talking and just my game will show.”
Guard Kendrick Nunn led the Heat’s summer league team in scoring and Miami seems inclined to keep him on the regular roster, according to Khobi Price of the Sun Sentinel. Nunn will receive a $450K guarantee if he’s on the opening night roster. “We were fortunate to get somebody of his quality,” Spoelstra said. “He also was a fit with us in terms of the culture fit, the work ethic, the drive – there’s a long lineage of non-drafted Miami Heat players who have come through our player development program and he’s the next notable one.”
The biggest mystery regarding the James Johnson saga is whether both the forward and the team can eventually move past this moment, Winderman writes in a mailbag piece. Johnson hasn’t been allowed to participate in camp yet because he didn’t meet the team’s weight goal set for him.

Joel Embiid On Jimmy Butler: “I Wish He Was Still On The Team”

October 3rd, 2019 at 8:41pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Sixers made several changes this offseason, but the team looks like just as much of a threat to steal the Eastern Conference crown as they did last season before Kawhi Leonard‘s knockout shot. While center Joel Embiid is focused on getting the team to NBA Finals for the first time since 2001, he admits that having Jimmy Butler around would make for a better journey.

“It was a big loss because me and him, we got to the point where we were really close – we’re still close,” Embiid said of losing Butler (via ESPN’s The Jump; h/t Kurt Helin of NBC Sports).

“We talk a lot, that’s my guy, that’s my brother forever. I wish he was still on the team, because I feel like the relationship that I built with him could have gone a long way. When it was the fourth quarter, we knew the ball would either be in me or Jimmy’s hands. I knew I could count on him. This year it kind of changes around. Now other guys have to step up and I have to do more.”

Butler landed in Miami via sign-and-trade this offseason while the 76ers netted Josh Richardson. Philadelphia also brought in Al Horford to give the team arguably the best frontcourt in the NBA. GM Elton Brand‘s squad is expected to be one of the best defensive teams in the league. However, Embiid acknowledges that they haven’t accomplished anything yet.

“I think we should be up there. Obviously, we still have to prove ourselves,” Embiid said of the team’s title chances. “We lost a big piece in Jimmy, he did a lot of great things for us, but we should be up there. On paper, we got a really good team so now it’s on us to go out there and actually prove it.”

Heat Notes: Butler, Johnson, Haslem, Waiters

October 1st, 2019 at 11:06am CST by Arthur Hill

Jimmy Butler is insisting that his new Heat teammates follow his intense work ethic, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. In the week before camp opened, Butler set up early-morning workouts to prepare for this season. In Butler’s case, early meant 4 am.

“I got here at about 6:05 one morning, and Jimmy’s in a full sweat, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Damn, I thought I was going to be the first guy working out,’” Meyers Leonard said. “I was with a couple of the young guys. That’s impressive to me. That’s a superstar and a guy you can count on and is clearly ready to put the work in and carry the load.”

That’s the type of extreme leadership that caused the Heat to make Butler the centerpiece of their offseason plans. Not only does he have his younger teammates in the gym before sunrise, he’s constantly challenging them to get better, particularly first-round pick Tyler Herro.

“He just wants to win,” Herro said. “He’s not a bad guy like everyone thinks he is. He’s a really good teammate. For him to take me under his wing early on just means a lot to me. He’s a really good guy.”

There’s more Heat news to pass along:

Veteran forward James Johnson won’t be permitted to participate in the start of camp because he failed to meet conditioning requirements, Jackson tweets. Johnson has a $242K likely bonus built into his contract regarding body fat percentage and weight requirements that he has met the last two years, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).
Even though he has barely played the past three seasons, 39-year-old Udonis Haslem wasn’t ready to retire, relays Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Haslem told reporters it would have bothered him that the Heat missed the playoffs in his final season. “These guys can come back another season and say, ‘OK, we didn’t reach our potential. Let’s try it again.’ I’ve got to live with it,” Haslem said. “I’ve got to sleep every night knowing I had a great 17-year career, but my last year we didn’t make the playoffs, my last year we didn’t reach our goals, my last year, we didn’t reach our potential, my last year, Dion [Waiters] wasn’t the best he could be, my last year, Justise [Winslow] wasn’t the best. I have to live with it.” Haslem added that he hasn’t decided if this will be his final season.
Personnel changes mean Johnson and Waiters will have to adjust to being complementary players this year, Winderman states in a mailbag column.

Heat Notes: Butler, Olynyk, Winslow, Haslem

September 27th, 2019 at 5:37pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The culture established by team president Pat Riley was a deciding factor in Jimmy Butler agreeing to join the Heat, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press.

“The winning habits, the winning ways. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?” he said. “I was excited to have an opportunity to come here, to be here, but when I keep hearing about this culture I was like, ‘I need that in my life.’”

Butler, who received a four-year deal worth approximately $141MM as part of a sign-and-trade with the Sixers, has shown that work ethic during early-morning workouts and in pickup games. Riley describes his biggest summer acquisition as a top-10 player in the NBA

“The one thing that I feel that I owe the franchise and this city is to put the most competitive team on the court that we can and one that will compete for championships,” Riley said. “I think having Jimmy Butler here is a step in that direction.”

We have more on the Heat:

Big man Kelly Olynyk won’t be available for the start of training camp but he’s expected to be ready for the opener, Reynolds reports in the same story. He suffered a bone bruise in his right knee while playing for Team Canada prior to the FIBA World Cup. Every other player on the training camp roster is expected to be available at the start of camp.
Riley wasn’t thrilled that Justise Winslow said publicly he wanted to be the starting point guard, Reynolds tweets. Winslow commented that he wanted to be the team’s floor leader earlier this month. He played well in that role last season after injuries struck but the starter in recent seasons, Goran Dragic, remains on the roster.
Butler would consider playing for Team USA in next year’s Olympics if he’s asked, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets.
Prior to re-signing veteran forward Udonis Haslem, Riley asked him if he wanted to coach this summer, Reynolds tweets. Haslem said he wasn’t interested in coaching but Riley believes he’ll eventually change his mind, Reynolds adds.

Goran Dragic Talks Trade Rumors, Butler, Health

September 12th, 2019 at 1:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Shortly after free agency opened on the night of June 30, the Heat appeared to have a trade in place to send Goran Dragic to Dallas in order to help make room under the team’s hard cap for swingman Jimmy Butler. However, a miscommunication between the Heat and Mavericks scuttled the deal, and while Dragic remained on the trade block for at least another day or two, he’ll ultimately return to Miami to start the 2019/20 season.

As Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald relays, Dragic missed out on much of that trade-rumor drama on the first night of free agency, since he was asleep in Slovenia when those reports surfaced.

“Of course, the next day, in the morning, I received a lot of texts,” Dragic said. “It was a little bit crazy, because at first you didn’t know if the deal went through or not. So a lot of my friends called me and were asking me. But I did not have a clue, because I had just woke up.”

Interestingly, Dragic said he didn’t speak to his agent or the Heat about the trade rumors and opted to “just let it go” when it became clear he’d be staying put. As he prepares to enter a contract year, Dragic expressed enthusiasm about Miami’s offseason moves (“I think we’re a better team”) and touched on a handful of other topics.

Here are some highlights, via Chiang:

On the acquisition of Jimmy Butler:

“I mean, he’s a great competitor. You can see that on the court. I don’t know him personally, but as a player, when I play against him he’s really a tough defender, he’s really vocal on the floor. I think he sets an example for the other players. I think he’s a huge addition for us, especially to lead this group. He can play on both ends, defense and on offense. He’s a great addition to our team.”

On the health of his right knee, which was an issue in 2018/19:

“I’m good, I’m good. I was working hard. My leg is way stronger than last year. Basically the right leg is stronger than the left one. I’m doing some basketball drills, some lifting weights. Everything is going like we planned.”

On his upcoming free agency in 2020:

“If I’m honest, I don’t even think about it, because I’m more in the present, because I’m trying to get back to being healthy this year. So this is my priority, just to stay focused and do my job. And when the time is going to come, then I’m going to think about my future. So, it doesn’t make sense to think it right now, because the season still didn’t start. And I haven’t felt how my body is going to react. So, we’ll see.”

Heat Notes: Leonard, Butler, Rotation

September 3rd, 2019 at 6:02pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Heat have been quiet about their plans for Meyers Leonard, though Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel notes that if the big man remains on the roster through the start of the season, he’ll likely be the team’s backup center.

Miami acquired Leonard in a four-way trade over the summer that allowed the team to net Jimmy Butler as well. The Heat cannot aggregate Leonard’s salary in a trade until September 6 — two months after the acquisition date. It’s possible that the team hasn’t been vocal about Leonard’s role because they are planning to flip him. However, at this point, any Leonard trade talk is strictly speculation.

Here’s more from Miami:

Leonard has privately made it known that he would like to make it work with the Heat, Winderman relays in the same piece. The big man has come off the bench for nearly the entirety of his career, so backing up Bam Adebayo at the five shouldn’t be a major issue.
Don’t expect the Heat to take a load management approach with Butler, Winderman explains in a separate piece. That could change if Miami is able to clinch a playoff berth early. Yet, with the team making the postseason just once over the past three years, the club may not have the luxury of resting players this season.
Assuming the team doesn’t make any major moves, Winderman (same piece) anticipates coach Erik Spoelstra will stagger the minutes of Butler, Goran Dragic and Dion Waiters. Winderman expects the Heat to have at least two of the three on the court the majority of the time.