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Micah Potter

Heat Notes: Mitchell, Potter, Eastern Conference, Lineups

August 28th, 2022 at 3:26pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

With Nets forward Kevin Durant off the table as a trade target for the time being, the Heat could look elsewhere for All-Star reinforcements. In a mailbag, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel discusses alternatives, including Jazz All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell. Winderman does not consider the undersized shooting guard to be worth a package centered around reigning Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro and future draft picks.

Winderman also notes that the Heat should be cautious when it comes to trading forward Duncan Robinson, who will earn $16.9MM in 2022/23 after falling out of the club’s rotation near the end of last season due to his defensive shortcomings. Winderman notes that Robinson’s contract could be crucial as an inclusion for a trade to acquire a maximum-salaried superstar. Herro remains on his rookie deal, and will make just $5.7MM this season.

There’s more out of South Beach:

  • In another mailbag, Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reflects on the recent decision by the Heat’s NBAGL affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, to offload Micah Potter to the Pistons’ G League club, the Motor City Cruise. Winderman writes that the decision ultimately came down to which players Miami is prioritizing developing, noting that other prospects – including Orlando Robinson – took priority over Potter.
  • Now that the Nets are, at least for now, stabilizing and whole heading into the 2022/23 season, Winderman wonders if Brooklyn has leapfrogged Miami in the Eastern Conference pecking order and explores just how dangerous the Nets coul dbe.
  • Even beyond the departure of starting power forward P.J. Tucker, the Heat’s rotation could look markedly different than it did during the 2021/22 NBA season, when a top-seeded Miami club pushed the Celtics to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals, Winderman writes in another Sun Sentinel story. As Winderman observes, 6’5″ Caleb Martin appears to be the current leader in the competition to become Miami’s new starting power forward, though that situation remains fluid with training camp still ahead of the team. Miami’s internal search for its starting swingman next to point guard Kyle Lowry and small forward/shooting guard Jimmy Butler also remains fairly open, with several intriguing candidates on the roster.
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And-Ones: Players With Most To Prove, Trade Market, GL Trades

August 26th, 2022 at 6:37pm CST by Rory Maher

The Athletic’s staff released an article this week focused of one player with the most to prove for each of the NBA’s 30 teams in 2022/23. Interestingly, several players mentioned are current or former All-Stars, including a trio who missed all of last season: Ben Simmons of the Nets, Kawhi Leonard of the Clippers, and Zion Williamson of the Pelicans.

Simmons’ head coach, Steve Nash, also made the list, as Alex Schiffer wonders whether or not Nash can finally show he’s a solid coach if the roster stays healthy.

In addition to more established veterans, eight former first-round picks who are still on their rookie contracts made the cut, including De’Andre Hunter of the Hawks, Killian Hayes of the Pistons, and James Wiseman of the Warriors, amongst others.

Here are a few more odds and ends from the NBA world:

  • One league executive of tells Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com that he expects more transactional activity, like the recent Lakers/Jazz trade, to transpire now that the Kevin Durant saga is over — at least for now. “I think we’ll see some things,” the executive said. “I don’t think L.A. thought it had a chance at Durant, but they had to see how that played out. You had to be on the whole ‘Let’s keep hope alive for the possibility of being involved in this,’ thing. Teams have been like, ‘Something may fall to us if a deal for KD gets expanded to include other teams.’ But now I think teams return to sanity and say, ‘OK, what do we need to do?’“
  • The Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s G League affiliate, recently made a couple of returning player rights trades, the team announced in a press release. The Skyforce acquired the G League rights to Jared Harper from the Birmingham Squad (Pelicans’ affiliate) for Javonte Smart. They also acquired Cheick Diallo from the Motor City Cruise (Pistons’ affiliate) for Micah Potter, with Potter subsequently signing an Exhibit 10 deal with Detroit. Both deals involved G League draft picks swapping hands. All four players have NBA experience, and Harper, Smart and Diallo remain NBA free agents, these moves only impact their G League rights.
  • The Motor City Cruise made a separate trade (Twitter link) with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s affiliate. The Cruise sent Cassius Stanley‘s returning player rights to the Vipers in exchange for the Vipers’ 2022 first-round pick. Like previously mentioned with the players above, Stanley remains an NBA free agent.
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NBA G League Announces 2021/22 All-NBAGL Teams

April 18th, 2022 at 2:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Rockets two-way player Trevelin Queen, who was named the NBA G League MVP and the G League Finals MVP this season, has added two more honors to his impressive 2021/22 résumé.

Queen headlined this year’s All-NBA G League First Team and also earned a spot on the NBAGL’s All-Defensive team, as the league announced today in a press release.

The complete list of the 2021/22 All-NBA G League teams, along with the All-Rookie and All-Defensive squads, is below. Players who finished the season on NBA contracts are noted with an asterisk (*), while those on two-way contracts are noted with a caret (^).

All-NBAGL First Team

All-NBAGL Second Team

All-NBAGL Third Team

NBAGL All-Rookie Team

  • Charles Bassey (Delaware Blue Coats) *
  • Luka Garza (Motor City Cruise) *
  • Carlik Jones (Texas Legends)
  • Mac McClung (South Bay Lakers) ^
  • Micah Potter (Sioux Falls Skyforce)

NBAGL All-Defensive Team

  • Charles Bassey (Delaware Blue Coats) *
  • Braxton Key (Delaware Blue Coats) ^
  • Tacko Fall (Cleveland Charge)
  • Shaquille Harrison (Delaware Blue Coats)
  • Trevelin Queen (Rio Grande Valley Vipers) ^

All 19 players who earned a spot on one of the G League’s All-NBAGL, All-Rookie, or All-Defensive teams this year were on some form of standard, two-way, or 10-day NBA contract during the 2021/22 season.

Of those 19, Tillman is the only player who has yet to make his NBA debut, as he didn’t appear in any games after signing a 10-day deal with Atlanta in December.

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Pistons Sign Micah Potter Via Hardship Exception

December 29th, 2021 at 3:10pm CST by Luke Adams

3:10pm: Potter’s 10-day deal with the Pistons is now official, according to the team (Twitter link). It’ll run through January 7, covering Detroit’s next five games.

12:39pm: The Pistons are signing rookie forward/center Micah Potter to a 10-day contract using a hardship exception, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Potter, 23, went undrafted out of Wisconsin earlier this year and competed in training camp for a two-way contract with the Heat. He was waived before the regular season began and caught on with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s G League team.

In 11 games (all starts) for the Skyforce in 2021/22, Potter has averaged a double-double, with 14.4 PPG and 10.6 RPG in just 26.3 minutes per contest. He has also exhibited an ability to stretch the floor, knocking down 39.5% of his three-point tries (15-for-38).

The Pistons, who have eight players in the health and safety protocols, haven’t been shy about auditioning replacement players on 10-day contracts — the team already has six players on hardship deals, so Potter is on track to be the seventh.

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Heat Waive Potter, Smart, Smith, Stewart

October 15th, 2021 at 9:33pm CST by Rory Maher

The Heat have waived Micah Potter, Javonte Smart, Dru Smith, and D.J. Stewart, per a team press release. All four players were on Exhibit 10 contracts.

All four players were undrafted rookies, and if they spend at least 60 days with the Heat’s G League squad, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, they could earn a bonus of up to $50K.

Potter, 6’10”, played two seasons with Ohio State before transferring to Wisconsin. He showed an impressive shooting touch for a big man, connecting on 38.6% of his three-point attempts and 84% of his free throws as a senior. He also had a strong preseason showing with the Heat, appearing in three games with averages of 10.3 PPG and 11.3 RPG in 24.0 minutes.

Smart, a 6’4″ guard, played college ball at LSU, averaging 16.0 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 4.0 APG (35.6 MPG) in 28 games as a senior. He appeared in five preseason contests with the Heat.

Smith, a 6’3″ guard, played for Evansville before transferring to Missouri. He averaged 14.3 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 3.8 APG, and 2.1 SPG (34.1 MPG) in 26 games as a senior. He appeared in three preseason games with the Heat.

Stewart, a 6’6″ wing, declared for the draft after two seasons at Mississippi State. He averaged 16.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 3.1 APG (35.0 MPG) in 28 games as a sophomore and appeared in four preseason contests with the Heat.

The moves leave the Heat with 14 players on guaranteed contracts and both two-way slots filled.

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Heat Add Potter, Smart, Smith To Camp Roster

September 10th, 2021 at 4:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Heat have added forward Micah Potter and guards Javonte Smart and Dru Smith to their training camp roster, according to a team press release.

Potter appeared in six Summer League games with Miami and averaged 7.3 PPG and 3.5 RPG. He went undrafted out of Wisconsin.

Smart averaged 5.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG and 2.2 APG with Miami’s summer league squad. Smart played three seasons at LSU, becoming just the seventh player in school history to record at least 1,200 points, 300 assists and 111 steals.

Smith, who attended Missouri, also appeared in six Summer League games with the Heat and averaged 8.0 PPG, 2.5 APG and 1.17 SPG.

All three were signed to Exhibit 10 deals, bringing Miami’s camp roster to 19, one below the limit, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets.

Exhibit 10 contracts give NBA teams a chance to bring players to training camp and get a look at them without guaranteeing them a regular season roster spot or any real salary. All three could potentially earn a $50K bonus if they remain on the Sioux Falls Skyforce roster for at least 60 days. The Skyforce are the Heat’s G League affiliate.

The trio could also be competing for Miami’s open two-way slot.

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Eastern Notes: Bucks, Pacers, Butler, Heat

August 9th, 2021 at 11:03am CST by Luke Adams

The two second-round picks the Bucks sent to the Grizzlies in the Grayson Allen trade were the 2024 and 2026 selections Milwaukee had just acquired from Indiana in a trade for the No. 31 pick, according to RealGM.

In the deal with Indiana, Milwaukee gave up the No. 31 selection in exchange for this year’s Nos. 54 and 60 selections along with those two future second-rounders. The team subsequently flipped the second-rounders to Memphis along with Sam Merrill for Allen.

The upshot is that the Bucks gave up Merrill and the No. 31 pick (Isaiah Todd) in exchange for Allen, the No. 54 pick (Sandro Mamukelashvili), and the No. 60 pick (Georgios Kalaitzakis).

Here’s more from around the East:

  • The Pacers officially announced a pair of additions to Rick Carlisle‘s staff, stating in a press release that Jannero Pargo has been hired as a player development assistant and Zach Chu has come aboard as the team’s manager of game strategy and analytics. Pargo spent the last two seasons with Portland, while Chu worked under Carlisle in Dallas.
  • Jimmy Butler‘s new maximum-salary extension with the Heat will actually be a three-year deal that begins in 2023/24, meaning it’s being tacked onto his 2022/23 player option, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Instagram video). Butler’s salary in ’23/24 will likely be 35% of that year’s cap, so the exact value of his extension isn’t yet known.
  • The Heat are taking their usual approach to their two-way contract slots, not filling them right away and instead auditioning several players for those openings. As Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel writes, the next week at the Las Vegas Summer League could go a long way toward determining which players have the leg up for those spots. Javonte Smart, A.J. Lawson, RJ Nembhard, Micah Potter, and Marcus Garrett are expected to be in the mix.
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Heat To Sign Four Undrafted Free Agents

July 30th, 2021 at 7:08am CST by Luke Adams

The Heat have agreed to sign undrafted rookies Javonte Smart, A.J. Lawson, and RJ Nembhard, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (all Twitter links). Miami is also signing undrafted free agent Micah Potter, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

While Scotto specifies that Potter will receive an Exhibit 10 contract, Wojnarowski’s reports simply state that the Heat have agreed to “deals” with Smart, Lawson, and Nembhard. We’re assuming those are more than Summer League agreements, and Exhibit 10 pacts seem most likely.

Last offseason, Miami signed several young players to Exhibit 10 contracts and had them compete for two-way slots in training camp — that could be the plan again.

Smart, who declared for the draft following his junior year, averaged 16.0 PPG, 4.0 APG, and 3.7 RPG for LSU in 2020/21. The 6’4″ guard posted an impressive shooting line of .460/.402/.857 in 28 games (35.6 MPG), earning All-SEC Second Team honors.

Lawson, the 18th-ranked player on ESPN’s list of undrafted prospects, put up 16.6 PPG and 4.1 RPG with a .351 3PT% in 21 games (31.3 MPG) as a junior for South Carolina this past season. The 6’6″ shooting guard joined Smart on the All-SEC Second Team.

Nembhard was a redshirt junior for TCU in 2020/21 and averaged 15.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 4.0 APG in 24 games (34.9 MPG). The 6’5″ guard boosted his three-point percentage to 33.9% and made the All-Big 12 Third Team.

Finally, Potter is the only non-guard of the group, standing at 6’10” and playing power forward and center. In his two years with the Badgers, he averaged 11.6 PPG and 6.1 RPG, showing off an impressive three-point stroke (40.8%) in 52 games (20.3 MPG).

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Draft Workouts: Wizards, Springer, Kuminga, Pacers, Hornets, Bezhanishvili

July 14th, 2021 at 3:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Wizards own the No. 15 pick and they’ve been very busy working out players. Guards Chris Duarte of Oregon, Ayo Dosunmu of Illinois and Josh Christopher of Arizona State visited last week, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. They brought in some less heralded prospects on Tuesday, a list that includes Mitchell Ballock (Creighton), D.J. Carton (Marquette), Matt Coleman III (Texas), Ryan Daly (St. Joseph) and Mark Vital (Baylor), according to a team press release.

Potential first-round Jaden Springer (Tennessee) heads the list of prospects who will work out for the club on Thursday, Hughes tweets. They’ll also take a look at Zane Martin (Towson), Asbjorn Midtgaard (Grand Canyon), Eugene Omoruyi (Oregon), Micah Potter (Wisconsin) and Guilherme Santos (Minas-Brazil).

We have more draft workout info:

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