Tyler Johnson Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat Notes: Waiters, Johnson, Newman, McGruder

August 4th, 2018 at 9:27am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Heat may use Dion Waiters as the primary backup to starting point guard Goran Dragic if Waiters’ ankle issues are behind him, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Coach Erik Spoelstra was using Waiters in a playmaking role before he was sidelined last season. Tyler Johnson isn’t suited for that role, Winderman continues, because he expends too much effort and takes too time advancing the ball. Spoelstra tends to use a variety of players who take turns handling the ball, which is why there is uncertainty about that role aside from Dragic.

In other news regarding the team:

Miami has made Johnson, Hassan Whiteside and Waiters available in trade talks this summer but hasn’t found much of a market for the trio, two unnamed league GMs told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The Heat’s best chance of falling under the luxury-tax threshold would be moving Johnson for a player making less money, Jackson adds.
The Heat agreed to a contract with former Kansas guard Malik Newman with the intent of making him a G League affiliate player, Winderman writes in a separate story. Those deals are limited to a $50K guarantee. The team has already filled both of its two-contract slots with Duncan Robinson and Yante Maten, while the regular roster already has five rotation options at the guard spots with the possibility of Dwyane Wade making that situation even more muddled if he’s re-signed.
Finding a steady role for Rodney McGruder will be a challenge for Spoelstra next season, Winderman writes in another mailbag. McGruder was a starter when Miami made its second-half run in 2016/17, Winderman notes, but a leg injury sidetracked him last season. With Josh Richardson and Waiters starting at the wing spots and Justise Winslow, Johnson and Wayne Ellington as options behind them, it’s tough to see where McGruder fits in, Winderman adds.

Rockets Remain In Market For Wing Player

August 1st, 2018 at 10:18am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets are poised to finalize a deal with Carmelo Anthony after he clears waivers later today, but signing Anthony won’t necessarily complete Houston’s offseason. As ESPN’s Zach Lowe details in a recent podcast conversation with Chris Herring of FiveThirtyEight, the Rockets remain in the market for at least one more wing player.

“They are going to get another wing,” Lowe said of the Rockets. “It’s going to happen.”

The Rockets lost two key forwards last month when Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute signed with new teams in free agency. Despite re-signing Gerald Green, adding James Ennis, and lining up a deal with Anthony, Houston could use another player with the ability to make threes on offense and guard talented perimeter players on defense.

Earlier this week, we heard that Houston has interest in Hawks swingman Kent Bazemore — Lowe and Herring discuss that possibility, with the ESPN analyst suggesting that the Rockets would likely offer Atlanta a package of Ryan Anderson and their 2019 first-round pick. However, the Hawks aren’t the only team the Rockets are keeping an eye on.

According to Lowe, the Rockets have also talked to the Heat. While Lowe doesn’t identify any specific Miami players that Houston is targeting, he speculates that perhaps the Rockets would be willing to offer that same package of Anderson and a pick for someone like Tyler Johnson.

The Rockets have also “kicked the tires” on Cavaliers shooting guard J.R. Smith, per Lowe. At $14.72MM, Smith has a smaller 2018/19 salary than players like Bazemore and Johnson, so the Cavaliers wouldn’t be able to trade him straight up for Anderson ($20.42MM) and a pick. Smith also only has a modest partial guarantee on his 2019/20 salary, making his contract much more palatable than Anderson’s. That could complicate any trade discussions between the two teams.

Although Lowe doesn’t go into more details on any other trade talks the Rockets might be having, there are a handful of other players around the NBA who would be logical targets as Houston dangles Anderson and a draft pick. Nicolas Batum, DeMarre Carroll, Marvin Williams, Danilo Gallinari, and Courtney Lee are other wings who make between $12-24MM in 2018/19 and are under contract for multiple seasons, though some players in that group are more realistic trade candidates than others.

Wayne Ellington Re-Signs With Heat

July 13th, 2018 at 6:53pm CST by Arthur Hill

JULY 13, 6:53pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 12, 8:35pm: Free agent guard Wayne Ellington will re-sign with the Heat, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

Ellington will receive $6.27MM for one year, the same amount he made in 2017/18. Negotiations lasted almost two weeks because the organization didn’t want to go too far into luxury tax territory, Jackson adds.

The Heat will officially become a taxpaying team, according to Bobby Marks on ESPN Now. As Marks details, a total team salary of $127MM puts Miami over the tax threshold by $3.2MM and gives the club a projected tax bill of $4.9MM so far.

With 12 guaranteed contracts on their books so far for the upcoming season, the Heat still have their $5.3MM taxpayer mid-level exception available. Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem are candidates to return and fill a couple of the club’s open roster slots.

The Heat will continue to try to trim salary, with Hassan Whiteside and Tyler Johnson among the players being made available in trade, a rival executive tells Jackson. Ellington isn’t a trade candidate, but for what it’s worth, he’ll be able to veto any deal this season because of the one-year Bird rights restriction.

Ellington, 30, has been a deadly shooter off the bench in his two seasons with the Heat. He averaged a career-best 11.2 PPG during the 2017/18 season, sinking 227 3-pointers and shooting 39% from long distance.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Heat Notes: Trade Talks, Johnson, Whiteside

July 13th, 2018 at 1:40pm CST by Luke Adams

The Heat have been looking to shed salary, having made Hassan Whiteside, Tyler Johnson, and Dion Waiters available in trade talks, two rival high-ranking executives tell Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

According to those execs, however, Miami has been unwilling to attach a future first-round pick or a young player like Justise Winslow or Josh Richardson to those highly-paid veterans. As Jackson details, the Heat’s preference would be to move a big contract like Johnson’s for a lesser-paid – and perhaps less effective player – or a draft pick.

Whiteside, Johnson, and Waiters aren’t bad players, but they’re not positive trade assets on their current contracts, which span multiple seasons and will pay them $25.4MM, 19.2MM, and $11.6MM respectively in 2018/19. As such, the Heat will likely have to adjust their expectations and their asking price if they hope to move any of those players.

Here are several more notes out of South Beach:

In an article for The Miami Herald, Barry Jackson explores the Heat’s options with Tyler Johnson‘s contract and notes that agent Mark Bartelstein isn’t ruling the possibility of Derrick Walton returning to the Heat. Miami withdrew Walton’s two-way qualifying offer earlier this week.
Heat head coach Erik Spoeltra appears committed to a fresh start with Hassan Whiteside, telling reporters this week that he has been in “constant contact” with the veteran center this summer (link via The Miami Herald). “I’m looking forward to the start of the season with a healthy Hassan. I know he’s looking forward to that,” Spoelstra said. “And we still have a good part of the summer to get better. I think Hassan having an opportunity to start off the season healthy will be a really big boost for us.”
The Heat remain on the lookout for under-the-radar free agents who are participating in the Las Vegas Summer League or holding individual workouts in Vegas this week, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Guys are getting two-ways during Summer League right now,” assistant GM Adam Simon said. “So those guys come off the table. So my job, our job, is to make sure we’re aware of all players that are available and then when it’s time to make decisions, then, as a group, we make those decisions.”
In a separate article for The Sun Sentinel, Winderman examines how the Heat will handle their logjam at shooting guard with Wayne Ellington re-signing and a Dwyane Wade return still in play.

Heat Failing To Find Trade Market For Several Players

July 10th, 2018 at 10:15pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Heat have tried to deal both Hassan Whiteside and Tyler Johnson this offseason but found a lack of interest in the pair of expensive veterans, sources tell Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

Whiteside will make roughly $25.4MM this season before he gets to deliberate a $27.1MM player option in the summer of 2019, He’s seemed unhappy with his playing time late in the 2017/18 campaign and it’s fair to wonder whether he would be open to a buyout if the team can’t trade his enormous contract. However, even if Miami makes the center miserable by further reducing his playing time, Jackson hears that it’s unlikely Whiteside walks away from the money.

Johnson will take home $19.2MM as part of the four-year pact he signed two summers ago. The Nets had presented the shooting guard with a $50MM offer sheet during the player-friendly 2016 free agent period. The offer spread more than 75% of Johnson’s total salary over the final two years of the deal. Miami surprisingly matched at the time and they’re now facing the first of two $19MM+ salary years.

Jackson adds that Dion Waiters has also been brought up in trade talks. Waiters has three years and approximately $36MM left on his contract.

Miami has no clear path to cap space next summer without moving the aforementioned players. Top names like Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler, and Klay Thompson are expected to hit the market and the team won’t be in a position to make a patented Pat Riley free agency pitch unless it gets creative with its roster.

Southeast Notes: Hawks, Schroder, T. Johnson, Magic

June 26th, 2018 at 9:56am CST by Arthur Hill

With about $20MM in available cap space, the Hawks are in position to be aggressive on the free agent market, but that’s not the path GM Travis Schlenk plans to pursue, relays Charles Odum of The Associated Press. Speaking at Monday’s press conference to introduce the team’s draft picks, Schlenk said the Hawks will take a wait-and-see approach when free agency kicks off Sunday.

“We will not be quickly out of the gate looking to sign guys,” he said. “We’ll kind of sit back and see what the market dictates. … We’ll kind of play a waiting game and see how the market plays out.”

The Hawks‘ need for frontline help has diminished with Dewayne Dedmon and Mike Muscala both opting in for another season. Guards Malcolm Delaney and Damion Lee will be restricted free agents if they receive qualifying offers worth $3.125MM and $1.538MM, respectively.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

Hawks point guard Dennis Schroder claimed to be taken out of context in comments at a German press conference that made it sound like he wanted to be traded, Odum adds in the same story. Schlenk said he discussed the situation with Schroder, who claimed the news source just used “snippets” of his answer. New coach Lloyd Pierce is confident that Schroder is committed to the Hawks’ plans to rebuild, and he will remain with the team and share time with first-round pick Trae Young.
The best strategy for the Heat may be to let Tyler Johnson play out his contract rather than trying to work out a trade, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Johnson’s contract rises from $5.88MM this season to $19.6MM in each of the next two years under the offer sheet from the Nets that Miami matched in 2016. Winderman notes that the four-year deal averages $12.5MM per season, which is reasonable for a player with Johnson’s production.
The Magic have officially hired the coaching staff that will work under Steve Clifford, the team announced this morning in a pair of tweets. As expected, the assistant coaches are Mike Batiste, Pat Delany, Steve Hetzel and Bruce Kreutzer, who all worked with Clifford in Charlotte, along with Tyrone Corbin, who spent the past two seasons in Phoenix.

Heat Notes: LeBron, T. Johnson, Draft Picks, Leonard

June 5th, 2018 at 6:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat are sometimes listed as a potential free agency destination for LeBron James, but team officials don’t believe there’s any chance he will return to Miami, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Among the entities that could see James back on South Beach is the WestGate Las Vegas sports book, which recently gave the Heat the fifth-best odds of winning next year’s title because of that possibility.

While Miami wouldn’t turn James away, there are too many obstacles to make the move realistic, Jackson notes. The Heat enter this summer with no cap space, so they would have to clear more than $55MM in salary while taking none in return to create the room to offer James a max contract. Cleveland could theoretically agree to a trade, but it’s hard to picture Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert working out a deal to ship James back to Miami.

Here are a few more Heat tidbits, courtesy of Jackson:

Tyler Johnson‘s contract will escalate to $19.2MM in each of the next two seasons, and the Heat are probably stuck with that deal. Jackson states that there is little optimism in the organization about moving Johnson, whose contract includes a 15% trade kicker that would be worth an extra $2.9MM. Miami matched a back-loaded offer sheet from the Nets in 2016 that was structured to make Johnson much more expensive in the final two years.
Also holding a trade kicker is Kelly Olynyk, who has a 5% bonus that would pay him $1.1MM if he’s traded. That money would be split over the next two seasons.
The Heat, who don’t have a pick in either round of this year’s draft, are trying to acquire a second-rounder, according to a Western Conference executive whose team has spoken to Miami about a potential deal. This year’s first-round choice was sent to the Suns in the Goran Dragic trade, and the second-rounder was shipped to Memphis in a 2016 deal to clear cap room.
Miami continues to monitor the Kawhi Leonard situation in San Antonio in hopes of pouncing if the Spurs decide a trade is necessary.

Heat Notes: LeBron, Draft, Haslem, T. Johnson

May 20th, 2018 at 11:41am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat are often mentioned as a potential destination for LeBron James if he decides to leave Cleveland, but Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel doesn’t believe such a move is realistic. Miami, of course, is where James went the last time he parted ways with the Cavaliers. He spent four seasons with the Heat and combined with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to reach the NBA Finals each year.

However, a reunion is extremely unlikely, Winderman notes. The Heat don’t have any cap space to work with and would need to have a massive sell-off or have James opt in and engineer a trade. Winderman estimates Miami would have to part with Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow, Bam Adebayo and the high salary of either Hassan Whiteside or Goran Dragic, which would leave LeBron with a worse supporting cast then he has now in Cleveland.

There’s more news from Miami:

Without a pick in this year’s draft, the Heat can’t get prospects to come to Miami, so scouts are going on the road to see them, Winderman writes in a separate piece. Team representatives are headed to Bradenton, Florida, New York City, Atlanta and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, this week to attend workouts being held by agents and trainers. Next week, the scouting staff will be at seven workouts in Los Angeles and one in Las Vegas. “We go there not only to watch that workout, but we also would use that as a mini-Chicago [draft combine], where we interview players,” VP of Player Personnel Chet Kammerer explained. “It’s not us running the workouts, but we’re going to get to look at as many people as we can among our staff.”
At age 38, Udonis Haslem hasn’t decided if he will return for another season, but he continues to work out as if he’ll keep playing, Winderman relays in another story. “When you get to this stage of your career and life, you either do it or you don’t,” Haslem said. “You can’t really turn it on and off. It becomes a lifestyle.” Interviewed Saturday, Haslem repeated that he has no interest in coaching but would be intrigued by a front office position.
Tyler Johnson won’t try to change his game to live up to the salary increase that’s about to kick in, writes Jordan McPherson of The Miami Herald. The backloaded offer sheet Johnson received from the Nets two years ago increases from $5.88MM this year to $19.25MM in each of the next two seasons. “It doesn’t bother me,” Johnson said. “It’s just a nicer paycheck when I go home.”

Tyler Johnson Undergoes Thumb Surgery

April 30th, 2018 at 11:47am CST by Luke Adams

Heat guard Tyler Johnson has undergone successful surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb, the team announced today in a press release. The procedure was completed on Monday morning.

According to the Heat, Johnson will be in a cast for the next six weeks. It’s not clear when he’ll be able to resume all basketball activities, but he’s expected to make a full recovery and to be ready for training camp in the fall, per the club.

Johnson, who played through this thumb injury during the last couple games of the Heat’s first-round series vs. the Sixers, had a solid overall year for the club, averaging 11.7 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 2.3 APG with a .435/.367/.822 shooting line in 72 games (39 starts).

Johnson will be under more scrutiny to produce in 2018/19. Due to the way his offer sheet from Brooklyn was structured in the summer of 2016, Johnson’s salary will jump from $5.88MM this season to $19.25MM next year. The Nets could’ve smoothed out Johnson’s cap hits over his four-year deal if they’d landed him, but the Heat didn’t have that option available after they matched the offer sheet, resulting in this significant third-year increase.

While Johnson is a very good bet to be back with the Heat due to his sizable cap hit, the team will have to find a way to address its glut of shooting guards. Josh Richardson, Dion Waiters, and Rodney McGruder also remain under contract, with Dwyane Wade and Wayne Ellington up for new deals.

Heat Notes: Johnson, Ellington, Trades, Offseason

April 26th, 2018 at 7:50pm CST by marksuleymanov

Tyler Johnson is set to make a significant salary jump next season that will result in him making $19MM+. While an increase in salary always comes with an increase in expectations, Johnson is not concerned about it, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes.

The Heat guard would become the Heat’s second-highest paid player behind Hassan Whiteside, who expressed frustration with his diminished playing time late in the season. Miami was eliminated from the playoffs by the Sixers and Johnson played through a thumb injury that will require offseason surgery. As Winderman writes, Johnson has dealt with worse situations and he’s embracing his future.

“I feel like people already are thinking that’s what it is, anyway,” Johnson said of his possible pay increase. “They just see the number and that’s what I’m already making. So I’ve really already kind of dealt with all of that. It doesn’t really bother me at all.”

Miami is entering a unique offseason in which the roster is far from set, including Whiteside’s vocal displeasure, Dwyane Wade‘s possible retirement, and more. Johnson, with an increased salary, could quickly become a focal point on the team.

Check out more Heat notes below:

Wayne Ellington and his standout three-point shooting are headed for free agency this offseason and he represents one of many decisions the organization will have to make. Ellington has said his desire is to return, but his salary requirements could price him out of Miami, Winderman writes in a separate story. “Of course I want to be back,” Ellington said. “I also know how the luxury tax works. I do. I do.”
In his latest mailbag, Winderman answers several questions, most notably addressing the possibility of the Heat possibly trading Whiteside and/or Goran Dragic to create cap flexibility this offseason.
Sean Deveney of The Sporting News delves into the Heat’s offseason and examines several decisions the organization will have to make. Among them are Whiteside’s standing with the team, a handful of impending free agents, and the progression of young players.