Summer League Notes
Posted: Fri Jul 8, 2016 2:55 am
Hi all!
Not sure if you hit up any of the other boards or not, but I've been at Orlando Summer League all week. I've had the chance to talk to a ton of front office guys, scouts, coaches, players and fellow media members.
Below are some of the things I learned/got told this week. Not all of it may be overly newsworthy, but all of it felt worthy of sharing.
If you have any questions, please quote me so that I'll be sure to see the question.
1. The Wade situation kind of hung over the entire week here for Miami until yesterday. The prevailing feeling was that he wouldn't leave and the guys I talked to were pretty shocked when he did leave.
2. The word today was that many of the team related folks feel like "he was just finally fed up. We pushed it too far with him. You mess with a man's money for too long and it will cause issues."
3. They are excited about Whiteside, but there is some nervousness of what he'll be like now that he's gotten paid. The quote was "Once a knucklehead, always a knucklehead right? And this guy isn't 20 years old anymore. We hope he's figured it out, but you never know."
4. Josh Richardson is terrific. He can play 1-3 and even switch on the occasional smaller 4. Once his shot gets a little more consistent, he'll be excellent. Miami found another guy on the cheap and he's a keeper.
5. Very mixed feelings on matching Tyler Johnson. The main worry is the giant cap hits in years 3 and 4. Many are also not convinced he's worth even the average value. They like him, but one guy told me "What did he do to get $50 million? Man, I was born about 20 years too soon!"
6. Justise Winslow is a consistent jumper away from being Miami's version of Draymond Green. They plan to play him at PF in small lineups a lot this year.
7. Briante Weber probably has a spot on the team now that they don't necessarily need the cap space. They love his toughness and leadership.
8. Rodney McGruder really impressed in practices prior to Summer League and he's been pretty solid in Orlando. They are in process of signing him to a partially guaranteed deal.
9. Chris Bosh...The entire organization is still divided. Some don't want him to play out of very real concern for his health. Some don't want him to play because they want that money wiped from the cap. And others, more than 50% that I talked to, want him back on the court.
10. Related to Wade somewhat is that several good sources told me: "Dwyane was pissed off for years. First it was money. Then it was using the amnesty on Mike Miller. Then they pushed LeBron out. Then they wouldn't let Bosh play when he could have helped them get to the conference finals. And then they picked Whiteside over him." The part that stood out to me was the Bosh portion.
11. They feel if Bosh had been healthy that they could have pushed, if not beaten, Cleveland. They feel like they were at least as good at Toronto and probably better if they had Bosh.
12. After a year or so, expect to see Udonis Haslem back in the organization in some capacity. He still wants to play, but the Heat aren't interested.
13. They don't really have a clear strategy for using the new found cap space. The FA market has kind of dried up a bit and Miami expected to have Wade. More than a few people told me they might throw offers at Allen Crabbe or Moe Harkless from Portland. But they also fully expect the Blazers to match.
14. They feel like this year could be a step back, but overall they think they are set up great for the future. If Bosh does medically retire, they'll have only Whiteside and Dragic making big money. And Miami is still a huge destination.
15. Some think that Dragic could contend for the scoring title. They think he'll have a monster year. And they intend to really push pace this year.
I think that is about it. Some other stuff will probably come to me as I go back through my other notes.
And a popular question is: Who is "they"? That generally means folks from the front office or coaching staff. Occasionally it means players. I'm being a bit vague on purpose, because I have intention of outing anyone. I hope you understand.
I want to close with sharing that I'm sorry for you guys about Wade. I felt the same way when the Celtics traded Pierce. He was my guy. And he followed a couple other of my guys in my life as a Celtics fan. To have THE guy in the franchise go has to be rough. I feel for you guys, but hang in there. You're still a top notch organization and better days are ahead!
Not sure if you hit up any of the other boards or not, but I've been at Orlando Summer League all week. I've had the chance to talk to a ton of front office guys, scouts, coaches, players and fellow media members.
Below are some of the things I learned/got told this week. Not all of it may be overly newsworthy, but all of it felt worthy of sharing.
If you have any questions, please quote me so that I'll be sure to see the question.
1. The Wade situation kind of hung over the entire week here for Miami until yesterday. The prevailing feeling was that he wouldn't leave and the guys I talked to were pretty shocked when he did leave.
2. The word today was that many of the team related folks feel like "he was just finally fed up. We pushed it too far with him. You mess with a man's money for too long and it will cause issues."
3. They are excited about Whiteside, but there is some nervousness of what he'll be like now that he's gotten paid. The quote was "Once a knucklehead, always a knucklehead right? And this guy isn't 20 years old anymore. We hope he's figured it out, but you never know."
4. Josh Richardson is terrific. He can play 1-3 and even switch on the occasional smaller 4. Once his shot gets a little more consistent, he'll be excellent. Miami found another guy on the cheap and he's a keeper.
5. Very mixed feelings on matching Tyler Johnson. The main worry is the giant cap hits in years 3 and 4. Many are also not convinced he's worth even the average value. They like him, but one guy told me "What did he do to get $50 million? Man, I was born about 20 years too soon!"
6. Justise Winslow is a consistent jumper away from being Miami's version of Draymond Green. They plan to play him at PF in small lineups a lot this year.
7. Briante Weber probably has a spot on the team now that they don't necessarily need the cap space. They love his toughness and leadership.
8. Rodney McGruder really impressed in practices prior to Summer League and he's been pretty solid in Orlando. They are in process of signing him to a partially guaranteed deal.
9. Chris Bosh...The entire organization is still divided. Some don't want him to play out of very real concern for his health. Some don't want him to play because they want that money wiped from the cap. And others, more than 50% that I talked to, want him back on the court.
10. Related to Wade somewhat is that several good sources told me: "Dwyane was pissed off for years. First it was money. Then it was using the amnesty on Mike Miller. Then they pushed LeBron out. Then they wouldn't let Bosh play when he could have helped them get to the conference finals. And then they picked Whiteside over him." The part that stood out to me was the Bosh portion.
11. They feel if Bosh had been healthy that they could have pushed, if not beaten, Cleveland. They feel like they were at least as good at Toronto and probably better if they had Bosh.
12. After a year or so, expect to see Udonis Haslem back in the organization in some capacity. He still wants to play, but the Heat aren't interested.
13. They don't really have a clear strategy for using the new found cap space. The FA market has kind of dried up a bit and Miami expected to have Wade. More than a few people told me they might throw offers at Allen Crabbe or Moe Harkless from Portland. But they also fully expect the Blazers to match.
14. They feel like this year could be a step back, but overall they think they are set up great for the future. If Bosh does medically retire, they'll have only Whiteside and Dragic making big money. And Miami is still a huge destination.
15. Some think that Dragic could contend for the scoring title. They think he'll have a monster year. And they intend to really push pace this year.
I think that is about it. Some other stuff will probably come to me as I go back through my other notes.
And a popular question is: Who is "they"? That generally means folks from the front office or coaching staff. Occasionally it means players. I'm being a bit vague on purpose, because I have intention of outing anyone. I hope you understand.
I want to close with sharing that I'm sorry for you guys about Wade. I felt the same way when the Celtics traded Pierce. He was my guy. And he followed a couple other of my guys in my life as a Celtics fan. To have THE guy in the franchise go has to be rough. I feel for you guys, but hang in there. You're still a top notch organization and better days are ahead!
