****The Official 2016-2017 NBA Thread****

A shooter! Huzzah! I like the Heat's roster but jeez Williams and Johnson didn't seem to be what they needed.

https://twitter.com/alexkennedynba/status/752264689694965761

Like I said I think the front office, which built a ton of street cred by uncovering the likes of Tyler Johnson, Josh Richardson and Hassan Whiteside, has been given the green light to acquire pet favorites en masse with the idea of letting the cream rise to the top and then either trading them away for proven players or building around them a la Whiteside.

I saw someone on Twitter may have been Winderman say there's growing thought that the Heat will actually match Tyler Johnson but take until 11:59pm to do it.

Ethan Skolnick repeating that Heat likely to match Tyler Johnson.

So it looks like the plan is to make a very solid roster where the pitch is we just need the superstar to elevate to the upper echelon.

That or hope for Winslow and Richardson to blow up.

Heat have matched Tyler Johnson.

I hear something about amnestying him? Is that a thing? Not very up on the NBA salary cap devices. I have a vague idea what an amnesty is and know we did it with Mike Miller. Is the theory that we can amnesty Miller in the balloon years (3-5) if he just doesn't turn out all that good?

No one mentioned that Haslem got a deal too. 1 year less than 4 mill. https://twitter.com/IraHeatBeat/status/752240938798297088

Source confirms to Sun Sentinel that Heat moving toward adding center Willie Reed to firm up power rotation, could possibly get done Monday.

"Not So Fast wrote:

Source confirms to Sun Sentinel that Heat moving toward adding center Willie Reed to firm up power rotation, could possibly get done Monday.

— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) July 10, 2016

That's good news. He's a guy I really like.

Out of all of these moves, the one I'd be most excited about is Reed. I really hope I'm wrong on Bumpy. I just see Jeremy Lin as his ceiling, and non-rotation player as his floor. To me, paying that guy $20M two straight years is awfully scary. The bright side is, Pat is giving a giant middle finger to the Nets and their poison pills, and telling everyone not to **** with him in the process.

I like the Luke Babbit move also, for no other reason than they basically traded away an imaginary draft pick for him.

"Serpico Jones wrote:

Heat have matched Tyler Johnson.

I understand the idea of not losing assets, but this seems like a poor idea to me especially if there's some clause against trading him. I don't know if you can restructure his contract under NBA rules in a match situation? That's a big key to me since I thought the whole idea was to preserve flexibility for next season and the offer sheet he signed seemed designed specifically to limit flexibility.

Heat sign Willie Reed according to Woj.

"rafael wrote:

I understand the idea of not losing assets, but this seems like a poor idea to me especially if there's some clause against trading him. I don't know if you can restructure his contract under NBA rules in a match situation? That's a big key to me since I thought the whole idea was to preserve flexibility for next season and the offer sheet he signed seemed designed specifically to limit flexibility.

Nope. You have to match the contract exactly.

By the way, Alex Kennedy says that the TJ move was not the one he was talking about when he heard they are not done. Considering they have 15 players, I wonder if this is McRoberts or Dragic. Ironically, this roster sets up pretty well to suit Dragic to the point where he could finally be an all-star as the main guy in Miami.

Per Heat twitter we gave New Orleans THEIR 2nd round pick we formerly acquired.

"sports24/7 wrote:

By the way, Alex Kennedy says that the TJ move was not the one he was talking about when he heard they are not done. Considering they have 15 players, I wonder if this is McRoberts or Dragic. Ironically, this roster sets up pretty well to suit Dragic to the point where he could finally be an all-star as the main guy in Miami.

He was probably talking about Willie Reed

Pretty sure the plan at this point is to drastically change our style to a full on "run n shoot". We'll be playing a lot faster and hoisting a lot more threes

You're right that this style should suit Dragic and make him more valuable as a trade chip. I also think you're going to see a lot of lineups with Hassan surrounded by 4 shooters. He will be an all star if his post passing improves

"sports24/7 wrote:

By the way, Alex Kennedy says that the TJ move was not the one he was talking about when he heard they are not done. Considering they have 15 players, I wonder if this is McRoberts or Dragic. Ironically, this roster sets up pretty well to suit Dragic to the point where he could finally be an all-star as the main guy in Miami.

Probably talking about Willie Reed.

Just imagining if somehow we land Westbrook and have both him and Tyler Johnson - that would be cool.

Still wouldn't be surprised to see them make an informal guarantee to Jarnell Stokes and sign him in December.

We traded Jarnell Stokes to the Pelicans in exchange for the 2nd rounder we turned around and traded back to them for Luke Babbitt, and they cut Jarnell Stokes and now we may get Stokes back in December by promising more than one year of guarantees whereas everyone else will probably only offer one year guaranteed or perhaps only partial one year.

I was pretty torn on the TJ situation, but there's certainly good reason for the money.

He's an excellent athlete with a solid jump shot who can defend either guard position pretty well. That profile is valuable nowadays. Then you add in the fact that he's a motivated guy who pulled himself up through the DLeague, he fought back from that jaw injury, and he's a guy whose work ethic our staff is familiar with...I like it. You'd hate to develop this kid all the way up through your system just to lose him. Oh and he's 24.

So what's the roster now?

Goran Dragic
Tyler Johnson
Briante Weber
Josh Richardson
Wayne Ellington
Rodney McGruder
Justise Winslow
Luke Babbitt
James Johnson
Chris Bosh
Derrick Williams
Josh McRoberts
Hassan Whiteside
Willie Reed
Udonis Haslem

Do I have everyone? I mean that's 15 guys so I must have everyone. Tough luck for guys like David Walker and Victor Rudd still fighting for position in Summer League. I think Rudd will catch on with someone regardless, and Walker may be able to play in Sioux Falls.

Ira reporting that Beno Udrih has a standing offer to return which he is likely to accept unless something better materializes over the next few days

"dolfan32323 wrote:

Per Heat twitter we gave New Orleans THEIR 2nd round pick we formerly acquired.

Right. And it was heavily protected (I believe something like top 55), so it almost certainly would have never come to Miami anyway.