Where has a busy NBA offseason of transactions left the Heat in the Eastern Conference hierarchy?
I explored that and looked at every Eastern team’s rotation in this piece.
On Monday, I asked a longtime Eastern Conference scout to offer his perspective on Miami’s place in the East following the addition of Norman Powell. Some feedback:
▪ On where the Heat stands in the East after the Bucks added Myles Turner; the Pacers lost Turner to free agency and Tyrese Haliburton to a torn Achilles; the Magic added Desmond Bane; the Hawks improved significantly and the Celtics lost Jayson Tatum to a torn Achilles and parted ways with Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Luke Kornet for financial reasons:
“Let’s start with who’s better. I see six teams for sure: New York, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee. Philadelphia is better if they’re healthy. So I would say the Heat’s a solid play-in team, in the same ballpark as Indiana and potentially better than Boston. They’re not 10 or 11; they’re more like 7, 8 or 9.
“It’s around a .500 team. If they won 45, it would be a great year. They’re not bad, but they’re not good. Chicago is mediocre; the Heat is maybe a little better than mediocre. They have three very good NBA players with [Bam] Adebayo, [Tyler] Herro and Powell. We’ll see about Ware. Andrew Wiggins is meh at this point.”
▪ On acquiring Powell from the Clippers, at the cost of only Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love: “That’s a very good move. He’s coming off a career year, and his shooting has been very good. The strange part is early in his career he was a defensive guy.
“His defense was not very good last year. He became much more of an offensive player. Can he really become a two-way player? Even if he can’t, he can put the ball in the basket, and they needed scoring and shooting.”
▪ What about a potential starting lineup of Powell, Herro, Adebayo, Ware and Wiggins?
“That backcourt would be very shaky defensively. Herro as a primary ballhandler, I don’t know. Herro as a No. 1 point guard is funky to me. Ideally Powell is your sixth man and finishing the game. Starting Davion Mitchell would give you a guy that can guard.”
What about Powell sharing some of the ball-handling duties with Herro and Adebayo if Mitchell plays off the bench?
“Powell is not a handler,” the scout said. “He’s not a secondary ballhandler either, in my view. He is a scorer. He is laser focused on shooting and scoring.”
▪ On Simone Fontecchio, who was acquired from Detroit in a sign-and-trade involving Duncan Robinson: “The year before last was good,” when he averaged 10.5 points and shot 40.1% on threes. “He’s not a great athlete and somewhat one-dimensional, but he’s very competitive.
“I wouldn’t call him a three-and-D guy. But he tries on defense. He struggled last season. He doesn’t have much handle. But give him consistent minutes and he could be a guy that can make shots and a Heat culture guy. Not a great athlete. He’s probably your ninth man [with Haywood Highsmith possibly out to start the season after knee surgery]. Is he even playing on a good team? Maybe.”
▪ On first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis: “NBA people I talked to in Las Vegas were killing him, didn’t have anything nice to say about him. Quickness and shooting were my concern. Can he beat [skilled NBA players] off the dribble? He better be able to make shots. His play was disappointing, but I’m not ready to judge. He’s [very young at 19].”
This and that
Kai Jones is spending four days working out at Kaseya Center this week as the Heat evaluates whether to sign the veteran power forward/center. One involved source said the Heat long has shown an appreciation for Jones’ skill set but is merely “kicking the tires” to see if signing him would be something worth considering.
Jones, 6-11, has played for Charlotte, the Clippers and Dallas in a three-year career and averaged 3.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 0.5 blocks and 10.1 minutes in 107 games and six starts. He played well in 12 games (and six starts) for Dallas late last season, averaging 11 points and 6.4 rebounds in 21.7 minutes per game while shooting a remarkable 83.6 percent from the field (61 for 73).
Jones — who attended Orlando Christian Prep and Brewster Academy in New Hampshire — was drafted 19th overall by the Knicks in 2021 and immediately traded to Charlotte. A native of the Bahamas, Jones, 24, played in 28 games off the bench for the Clippers last season before being released March 1; he joined the Mavericks on a two-way contract the next day.
The Heat has 14 players under standard contracts; teams can carry no more than 15 once the regular season starts but aren’t obligated to begin the season with 15 players. Miami, which could use one more backup in its power rotation, could opt to fill the 15th spot before training camp or sometime early in the season.
Another option for the Heat would be signing Jones to an Exhibit 10 contract, allowing him to compete for the 15th guaranteed contract during training camp.
▪ The Heat will not be featured in any of the league’s marquee television slots announced Tuesday, not a surprise for a team coming off a first-round playoff drubbing.
As expected, ABC, ESPN and NBA opted against showcasing the Heat on Christmas for a second year in a row. Miami also won’t be featured in any national telecasts during the first week of the season or on Martin Luther King day.
The NBA’s Christmas ABC/ESPN games, in order, will be Cleveland-New York, San Antonio-Oklahoma City, Dallas-Golden State, Houston-Lakers and Minnesota-Denver. The first four of those games will compete with three NFL games on Christmas: Dallas-Washington and Detroit-Minnesota (both on Netflix) and Denver-Kansas City (on Amazon Prime).
NBC, beginning an 11-year deal with the NBA, will carry Oklahoma City-Houston and Lakers-Warriors on opening night (Tuesday, Oct. 21).
The Heat is expected to receive very few national telecasts this season.
The NBA will announce each team’s four group-play NBA Cup games on Wednesday and will release the full schedule on Thursday, with two of the 82 games to be determined after NBA Cup group-play is concluded.