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Heat

Following the Miami Heat's 111-103 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, several Heat players "thanked" Draymond Green.
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"Tell Draymond thank you." Dray picked the Celtics to win the series, so Udonis Haslem had a message for their possible NBA Finals opponent 👀 🎥: <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BleacherReport</a> <a href="https://t.co/xhZPVvKWFZ">pic.twitter.com/xhZPVvKWFZ</a>
&mdash; FanDuel (@FanDuel) <a href="https://twitter.com/FanDuel/status/1530395382710247424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2022</a></blockquote>

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During an interview on TNT's "Inside the NBA" on Thursday, Green wrote off the Heat and predicted with confidence that the Golden State Warriors would be facing the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to tell you who I think we&rsquo;re going to play. We&rsquo;re going to play Boston,&rdquo; Green told Shaquille O'Neal, who had asked him which team he wanted to face. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s who we&rsquo;re going to play.&rdquo;
This comment upset several players on the Heat.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what part of the game is that,&rdquo; Heat forward PJ Tucker <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/udonis-haslem-draymond-broke-the-code-saying-warriors-would-face-celtics-in-nba-finals-050925538.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Yahoo Sports</a>. &ldquo;A player picking a team before they&rsquo;re out? That&rsquo;s crazy, bro.&rdquo;
&ldquo;He let Shaq peer pressure him into saying some s*** he ain&rsquo;t got no business saying,&rdquo; Udonis Haslem <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/udonis-haslem-draymond-broke-the-code-saying-warriors-would-face-celtics-in-nba-finals-050925538.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Yahoo Sports</a>. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t sleep much after he said that. That was some bulls***. Draymond broke the code. You ain&rsquo;t supposed to say some s*** like that. That&rsquo;s disrespectful. He know better than that.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going home [for Game 7]. We did what we were supposed to do. Don&rsquo;t ever count us out.&rdquo;
Game 7 between the Heat and Celtics is Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Draymond Green said that the Warriors would end up facing the Celtics in the NBA Finals, which upset several players on the Heat.

Haslem: Draymond Green 'broke the code' by predicting Celtics win

The 2021 NBA Finals had been over for approximately three minutes, and newly crowned champion P.J. Tucker was already overcome by one very distinct emotion.
&ldquo;I've got to feel this again," Tucker said.
That's why he left Milwaukee for Miami last summer. It's why Kyle Lowry, a 2019 champion with Toronto, also joined the Heat this past offseason. It's why Markieff Morris, a 2020 champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, is with the Heat now. It's why Udonis Haslem, who turns 42 in a couple of months, is still with Miami and seeking a fourth ring.
Regular-season successes were nice, but meant little to the Heat in the grand scheme of things. What matters is the postseason and the pursuit of a championship, which truly starts Sunday when the top-seeded Heat begin an Eastern Conference first-round series against Trae Young and the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks.
&ldquo;This is what you&rsquo;re here for," Lowry said. &ldquo;This is what you play for. This is what you train for. These are the situations that you look forward to."
Miami had two things for practice Saturday that it didn't have on Friday &mdash; an opponent, and a starting center. The Hawks earned their playoff spot by beating Cleveland in a play-in game Friday night, and on Saturday morning Bam Adebayo was back at practice for the first time all week after clearing the NBA's health and safety protocols.
With Adebayo, Miami has its big man.
Atlanta's big-man rotation is a major question.
Starting center Clint Capela has been ruled out for Game 1, and may wind up missing much if not all of the series, after injuring his right knee on Friday. Tests on Saturday ruled out major damage, but Capela's status for the short-term remains a mystery.
But the Hawks may get forward John Collins &mdash; who missed the final 16 regular-season games and both play-in contests &mdash; back on Sunday, listing him as questionable with a strained right foot and a sprained right ring finger.
That said, the Hawks still have Young, one of the most dynamic scorers in the game. He had six points at halftime of the win-or-go-home game against Cleveland on Friday, then had 32 more points on 10-of-14 shooting in the final two quarters.
&ldquo;I think he lives for these moments,&rdquo; Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. &ldquo;Built for this moment. I think he is built for this moment. I said it to him last year going into the playoffs; his game, his confidence, his belief in himself, playing in big moments like this, he doesn&rsquo;t shy away from it.&rdquo;
The Hawks went 1-3 against the Heat this season, though neither side expects that to mean much come Sunday.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s exciting,&rdquo; Young said of the matchup. &ldquo;We get another opportunity. They&rsquo;ve been clicking on all cylinders, especially here recently. They&rsquo;ve gotten a little bit more rest than we have, so we&rsquo;ve got to be ready to bring it. We know the crowd&rsquo;s going to be crazy, the environment&rsquo;s going to be fun, so we&rsquo;ve got to be ready to be locked in and take care of business.&rdquo;
Miami went to the finals in Jimmy Butler's first season with the Heat, the year that was interrupted by the start of the pandemic and then resumed in the bubble at Walt Disney World. Last season led to another playoff berth, but Miami was overwhelmed and swept in the first round by Tucker and the Bucks.
This season, a 53-29 mark earned Miami the No. 1 seed. The Heat, quite simply, want much more.
&ldquo;We all want to win a championship," Butler said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s our goal. ... Kyle has been telling us how to make it happen along with Keiff, along with Tuck, along with UD &mdash; the champions that we do have. We've got great leadership and we got to find a way to get 16 of them.&rdquo;
SERIES HISTORY
Atlanta is 2-0 in previous series against the Heat, both first-round matchups that went the distance. The Hawks won 3-2 in 1994, then 4-3 in 2009 in Erik Spoelstra&rsquo;s first season with the Heat. It&rsquo;s the second time Spoelstra and McMillan have faced off in the playoffs; Miami swept Indiana in 2020, and the Pacers fired McMillan later that offseason.
INSIDE THIS SEASON
Miami went 3-1 against Atlanta; the team that shot better from the field and shot better from 3-point range won all four games, which isn&rsquo;t exactly rocket science. Young averaged 25.5 points in the four games. Tyler Herro averaged 20.0 for Miami and the Heat went 3-0 in the three games in which he played. He didn&rsquo;t play in the lone Atlanta win, nor did Lowry. The Hawks had double-digit leads in three of the four games against Miami, but the Heat rallied to win two of those contests.
BEEN A MINUTE
Nearly six years have passed since Miami won a playoff game in its own building. It was Game 6 of a second-round series against Toronto on May 13, 2016. The Heat are 0-4 in playoff games in Miami since; the run to the 2020 NBA Finals was in the restart bubble near Orlando, Florida.
ROAD WARRIORS
Counting Friday&rsquo;s win at Cleveland in the play-in tournament, Atlanta is 7-4 in road playoffs (or playoff-type) games since the start of last season. The Hawks went 2-1 at New York in Round 1 last season and got a series closeout win at Madison Square Garden, 3-1 at Philadelphia in the East semifinals (winning Game 7 on the road) and 1-2 at Milwaukee in the East finals.
FANDUEL SAYS
<a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nba?tab=eastern-playoffs">FanDuel Sportsbook</a> has the Heat as the second-biggest favorite in the East in Round 1, behind only Milwaukee &mdash; an overwhelming favorite to beat Chicago in their first-round series.

Miami went 3-1 against Atlanta this season; the team that shot better from the field and shot better from range won all four games.

Heat open their quest for a title Sunday, with Hawks in way

Zach LaVine has an Olympic gold medal. What he doesn&rsquo;t have is NBA playoff experience.
At last, that part is about to change.
No active NBA player has been in more regular-season games without making his playoff debut than LaVine, who has appeared in 478 games with the Chicago Bulls. He&rsquo;s expected to play in his first playoff game Sunday night when the Bulls visit Milwaukee.
Once LaVine makes his playoff debut, the title nobody wants &mdash; active player with most games and no playoff appearances &mdash; will fall to Buddy Hield. He&rsquo;s been in 468 games with Sacramento, New Orleans and Indiana.
If Hield appears in at least 32 games next season, he will become the eighth player with at least 500 regular-season appearances but zero playoff contests. He&rsquo;ll join Tom Van Arsdale (929), Otto Moore (682), Nate Williams (642), Omri Casspi (588), Sebastian Telfair (564), Popeye Jones (535) and Eddy Curry (527) in that club.
Curry has a ring from his time with the Miami Heat in the 2011-12 season, but didn&rsquo;t play in a game during that postseason run.
EIGHT IS (USUALLY) ENOUGH
Phoenix won eight games more than any other team this season. That usually means a championship.
Not always, though.
The last four teams to have at least eight more wins than any other team in the regular season have gone on to win a title. Those clubs are the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000, the Chicago Bulls in 1992 and 1996, and the Boston Celtics in 1984.
The 1971 Milwaukee Bucks, 1967 Philadelphia 76ers, and both the 1960 and 1965 Celtics also ended seasons with such huge regular-season margins with championships. But the Celtics in both 1958 and 1973 did not, nor did the Washington Capitols in 1947 &mdash; the inaugural season of the BAA, which was the precursor to the NBA. The Capitols (49-11) won 10 more regular-season games than anyone else in 1946-47, but the Philadelphia Warriors (35-25) won that first season&rsquo;s championship.
PLAYOFF MONEY
The NBA has set this season&rsquo;s playoff pool at $17,317,334. All 16 playoff teams are guaranteed $258,449 just for making the field; most teams will make more, and the deeper teams go in the playoffs, they&rsquo;ll make much more.
Phoenix is already assured at least $1,194,952. The Suns would claim $5,077,456 if they win the NBA title.
Miami has secured $695,527 already. The Heat would get $4,578,031 if they win the championship.
Any team that makes the NBA Finals is guaranteed $3,106,286; any team other than the Suns or Heat that wins the championship would receive at least $4,140,953.
BEST EVERYWHERE
Phoenix had the NBA&rsquo;s best home record and the NBA&rsquo;s best road record this season &mdash; 32-9 in both instances.
Only four of the last nine teams to pull off that feat, including ties in the standings, went on to win the NBA title. Those clubs were Golden State in 2015 and 2017, the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000 and the Chicago Bulls in 1996.
The most recent teams to be best at home, best on the road and still not win a title: Houston in 2018, Dallas in 2007, Seattle in 1994, Portland in 1991 and the Lakers in 1990.
MILESTONE WATCH
Philadelphia&rsquo;s Doc Rivers is on the cusp of becoming the fifth coach in NBA history to win 100 postseason games. The 76ers need just two wins in their first-round series against Toronto to get Rivers to the milestone.
The other coaches with 100 wins: Phil Jackson (229), Pat Riley (171), Gregg Popovich (170) and Larry Brown (100).
Miami&rsquo;s Erik Spoelstra can also get to 100 playoff wins this year &mdash; but the Heat would have to get to the NBA Finals, then win three games in the title round to get him there. Spoelstra enters these playoffs with 85 postseason victories.
Among players, Brooklyn&rsquo;s Kevin Durant is three points shy of matching Jerry West (4,457) for eighth on the all-time playoff list. Durant needs 307 points to tie No. 7 Karl Malone (4,761) on that list, meaning the Nets would likely have to get to at least the second round for that to occur this year.
FAVORED TEAMS
Utah was favored in more games than any other team this season, picked by oddsmakers 73 times in the 82-game regular season. The Jazz were followed by Phoenix (70), Milwaukee (66), Golden State (62), Boston (61) and Miami (59) on the most-favored list.
The team that covered a spread with the most regularity this season: Memphis, which rewarded its backers 64.6% of the time. Utah was tied for next-to-last in that department, covering at a 40.2% rate.
Oklahoma City was favored the fewest times in the league, just on three occasions. Portland was the worst at covering, doing so 37.8% of the time.
BACK TO BACK
If Milwaukee&rsquo;s Giannis Antetokounmpo wins his second consecutive NBA Finals MVP award &mdash; now named for Bill Russell &mdash; he would join select company.
Only six players have won that award in consecutive years. Chicago&rsquo;s Michael Jordan won it back-to-back-to-back on two separate occasions, 1991 through 1993 and then 1996 through 1998. Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal won three in a row for the Los Angeles Lakers from 2000 through 2002. Hakeem Olajuwon won for Houston in 1994 and 1995, Kobe Bryant did for the Lakers in 2009 and 2010, LeBron James did for Miami in 2012 and 2013, and Kevin Durant did it for Golden State in 2017 and 2018.
Jerry West was the award&rsquo;s first winner in 1969. It has been named for Russell since 2009.
THREE&rsquo;S WIN
As one might guess, it&rsquo;s difficult to make up a significant disparity in 3-pointers made.
Teams that were outscored by 15 or more points from 3-point range this season won only 20.8% of the time &mdash; going 94-348 in those contests.
IGUODALA&rsquo;S FAREWELL
Golden State&rsquo;s Andre Iguodala has said he is retiring when this season ends. He wanted to go back to the Warriors for a farewell, and the Warriors welcomed him back for many reasons &mdash; what he brings at this time of year among them.
No player in this year&rsquo;s playoffs has played, counting actual appearances only, in more postseason wins than Iguodala. He has appeared in 103 playoff wins, five more than Philadelphia&rsquo;s Danny Green, eight more than Brooklyn&rsquo;s Kevin Durant, 16 more than Miami&rsquo;s Udonis Haslem and 17 more than Warriors teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
THE REFEREES
Tom Washington is working the NBA playoffs for the 24th time and Scott Foster was selected as part of the postseason referee corps for the 22nd time. They&rsquo;re the senior members of a 36-person group that will work games in Round 1.
There are three playoff newcomers: Eric Dalen, Mitchell Ervin and Justin Van Duyne.
Foster has worked 201 playoff games, while Washington has worked 172. Other veterans in this year&rsquo;s playoffs include Tony Brothers and James Capers (163 games apiece), Marc Davis (161), Ed Malloy (121), Bill Kennedy (120), Zach Zarba (117) and John Goble (100).
The rest of the first-round officials are: Brent Barnaky, Curtis Blair, Nick Buchert, Kevin Cutler, JB DeRosa, Kane Fitzgerald, Tyler Ford, Brian Forte, Pat Fraher, Jacyn Goble, David Guthrie, Courtney Kirkland, Karl Lane, Eric Lewis, Mark Lindsay, Tre Maddox, Rodney Mott, Gediminas Petraitis, Michael Smith, Ben Taylor, Josh Tiven, Scott Twardoski, James Williams and Sean Wright.
The NBA also selected eight alternates &mdash; including Lauren Holtkamp, the only woman to make this season&rsquo;s list. If picked for a game, Holtkamp would join Violet Palmer as the only female referees to work a postseason contest.

The AP's Tim Reynolds ties a bow on the 2021-22 NBA regular season and prepares us for the playoffs.

Playoff time: 10 things to know about the NBA's postseason

Udonis Haslem started the Miami Heat postseason with an apology.
It wasn&rsquo;t a real apology.
Haslem, like many other Heat players, is amused by the notion that the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs isn&rsquo;t considered a favorite to win the Eastern Conference title. Miami doesn&rsquo;t have an MVP candidate, didn&rsquo;t have anyone qualify for the top 20 in the league&rsquo;s scoring race, and <a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nba?tab=conference-winners">according to FanDuel Sportsbook</a> only has the third-best odds of winning the East behind Milwaukee and Boston.
&ldquo;It might not be the sexiest,&rdquo; Haslem, the longtime Heat captain and 19-year veteran, said of Miami's 53-29 regular season mark. &ldquo;We ain&rsquo;t got nobody out here scoring 85 points in one game. Ain&rsquo;t got none of that. But we are winning basketball games collectively as a unit and as a team. I&rsquo;m sorry to everybody in the basketball world that that&rsquo;s not sexy enough for you guys, but we&rsquo;re thankful for the guys that we have and the opportunity that we have to be the No. 1 seed.&rdquo;
Miami opens the playoffs at home on Sunday afternoon; the Heat will find out their opponent on Friday night. By then, the Heat expect to have center Bam Adebayo &mdash; out because of a stint in the league&rsquo;s health and safety protocols &mdash; back and ready for Game 1. He was the only Heat player missing Wednesday when the team resumed practice after a two-day, players-only, bonding trip to the Bahamas.
&ldquo;In terms of whether there&rsquo;s motivation because people are counting us out or not giving us a due respect, each person can translate that on their own,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;I think the more powerful motivation is what we&rsquo;re trying to play for and compete for, which is the hardest thing you attempt to do in a team sport, to compete for a title.&rdquo;
It might seem surprising to some that a team that made headlines a few weeks ago for an in-game argument &mdash; All-Star forward Jimmy Butler exchanging words with Spoelstra during a time out, then Haslem getting involved in a rather demonstrative way &mdash; went on vacation together. Whatever caused that argument was forgotten by the next day anyway, since some players arrived for work the following morning and found Butler and Haslem already in the locker room and carrying on with their usual brand of conversation and nonsense.
The Heat insist they&rsquo;re united. They bicker, and that argument wasn&rsquo;t the worst dustup the team has experienced this season, but Haslem said that&rsquo;s all part this team&rsquo;s DNA.
&ldquo;Typical day in Miami, man,&rdquo; Haslem said of the time-out mess last month. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how we get stuff done around here. We believe in eye-to-eye communication. ... You say what you&rsquo;ve got to say, I&rsquo;ll say what I&rsquo;ve got to say, I love you, you love me, let&rsquo;s get back on the basketball court, let&rsquo;s play.&rdquo;
That dustup came during a four-game Miami losing streak. When that slide ended, the Heat won six straight to lock up the No. 1 seed in the East before losing a meaningless regular-season finale in Orlando. Most Heat regulars didn&rsquo;t play in that game, and the Bahamas trip then got underway.
Being the No. 1 seed guarantees nothing; no top seed has won the East title since Cleveland in 2016, and a top seed has only made one East final in the last four years &mdash; that being Milwaukee, when it lost to Toronto in 2019.
But the Heat, just as they were in the bubble two years ago when they went to the NBA Finals as the East&rsquo;s No. 5 seed, insist that they believe they have enough to contend for a title.
&ldquo;I feel good. I do,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t put a ceiling or basement on anything, man, because we can&rsquo;t control everything. I just know that if we focus in on us, and what we can control, and what we&rsquo;re capable of, we&rsquo;re going to be OK.&rdquo;

Miami opens the playoffs at home on Sunday afternoon; the Heat will find out their opponent on Friday night.

Sorry, not sorry: Heat aren't fazed by the lack of believers

There wasn&rsquo;t exactly a consensus about how the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; season would end, but it&rsquo;s probably safe to say that nobody foresaw this.
On Tuesday night, the Lakers saw their bleak playoff hopes reduced to zero when the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Denver Nuggets, and immediately thereafter &mdash; and rightfully so &mdash; Frank Vogel, Anthony Davis, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook were all in the news.
In the end, there&rsquo;s no single reason the Lakers turned in one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history &mdash; there&rsquo;s enough blame to go around.
What Rob Pelinka needs to figure out is how to fix it.
The answer, ironically, would probably be to start thinking small.
This past season, the team managed to find some serviceable pieces to augment the star-studded core, but only Davis, James, Talen Horton-Tucker and Austin Reaves are under contract next season. The Lakers hold a team option on Stanley Johnson and Westbrook and Kendrick Nunn both have player options they are likely to pick up.
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The official 2021-22 Kendrick Nunn highlight reel 🎥 <a href="https://t.co/wDPehJyqpN">pic.twitter.com/wDPehJyqpN</a>
&mdash; Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) <a href="https://twitter.com/LakersLead/status/1508967570560458762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Combined &mdash; thanks in large part to the commitments to Westbrook, James and Davis &mdash; the Lakers are in line to have about $148 million on their 2022-23 ledger, which is already about $26 million over the projected salary cap.
Said differently, outside of offloading one of Westbrook, James or Davis without taking much salary back in return, the team wouldn&rsquo;t be able to manufacture enough cap space to have a competent opportunity of improving via free agency. Obviously, the club could go the route it went this past season and hand out one-year, minimum salary contracts to aging veterans, but the players who could actually make a difference for the Lakers won&rsquo;t exactly be lining up to sign on the dotted line given the performance of this year&rsquo;s team.
To make matters even worse, the Lakers don&rsquo;t own a pick in this year&rsquo;s draft. Their first rounder was sent to New Orleans in the Anthony Davis trade, while their second-round pick is owned by the Spurs.
So how does a team with no cap space and no draft picks improve?
Simple: by thinking small.
Ask the Brooklyn Nets, and look toward the Miami Heat.
A historically frugal franchise, Miami has never necessarily found itself in the kind of salary cap hell the Lakers are in at the moment. Part of the reason why is because one of the constants during Pat Riley&rsquo;s tenure has been investing heavily in scouting and player development. The same rings true of most successful small market franchises.
Players like LeBron James and Anthony Davis may win you the championship, but throughout history, it&rsquo;s always been players like Alex Caruso, Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who get you there in the first place.
Contenders invariably unearth valuable and sometimes unknown role players and maximize those role players' talent. For example, this year's Miami team has enjoyed the combination of Tyler Herro, Max Strus and Omer Yurtseven combining to earn only about $7 million. That's about $3 million less than Talen Horton-Tucker alone. Strus and Yurtseven are far from household names, but Miami wouldn&rsquo;t be entering play on April 6 as the first seed out East without them, especially considering the injuries the team has dealt with this season.
Duncan Robinson and Kendrick Nunn also go on a list that features the likes of Bam Adebayo, Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem as players drafted and developed by the staff in Miami.
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Some time ago, the Lakers had what looked like a competent core of young players. It&rsquo;s hard to imagine that just four years ago, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart and Jordan Clarkson were all teammates in Los Angeles. They&rsquo;ve all come and gone, most to facilitate the arrivals of LeBron, Davis and then Westbrook.
The Lakers do have a championship to show for that roster churn, but from this point forth, the way out might actually be to go back to the drawing board. Sean Marks and his Brooklyn Nets, another franchise that Lakers VP of Operations Rob Pelinka would be wise to mimic this summer, provide a blueprint for how to go about doing that.
When Marks took over the Nets in 2016, Brooklyn was not in a good place. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry had all come and gone, and the draft picks that became Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Collin Sexton were living their best lives elsewhere. The Nets had a bloated payroll, a team of scrubs and no future.
The NBA's Chicago Draft Combine was only two months after Marks was hired in Brooklyn, and despite not owning a first-round pick, he sent quite a contingent to the Windy City. Their directive was to do as much recon work as possible to find Marks some players who could help. Marks used Thaddeus Young to trade his way into the first round and came away from the draft with Caris LeVert and Isaiah Whitehead. Within the next six months, he signed two diamonds in the rough, Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie.
One season later, Marks drafted Jarrett Allen and landed D&rsquo;Angelo Russell in a trade with the Lakers, and that was essentially the core that both got Brooklyn back on track and ultimately landed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
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Highlights Kyrie Irving &amp; Kevin Durant 🆚 Sixers<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetsWorld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NetsWorld</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBATwitter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBATwitter</a> <a href="https://t.co/viw7ZzQQIZ">pic.twitter.com/viw7ZzQQIZ</a>
&mdash; Back2Back (@B2BFR) <a href="https://twitter.com/B2BFR/status/1502186067541307394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Obviously, that all took time to come to fruition, and time isn't something that LeBron James has. But the point is that no matter how daunting the situation, a competent NBA front office can build a team without having the most obvious assets readily available. That the Lakers have two superstars should actually make the task a bit less difficult.
In this league, there are generally two types of teams: those who rely on free agency and trades to build their contender, and those who build their programs organically, most often through the draft. Big-market teams tend to be the former, while small market teams usually go the other route.
If either Marks or Riley were put in charge of the Lakers&rsquo; front office, they would probably trade Horton-Tucker for draft capital after realizing he&rsquo;s not the right fit there. They&rsquo;d engage the Pelicans, Blazers, Thunder, Rockets, Pacers and Grizzlies &mdash; teams who may have multiple first-round picks &mdash; and find a way to come away from the draft with a young piece and at least one more promising player from the summer circuit. Only then would they go knocking on the doors of guys like Tristan Thompson, Semi Ojeleye and Victor Oladipo, all of whom could help and potentially be had for cheap.
By the time the 2022-23 season tips off, the team could be remade. Some names we&rsquo;d know, and many we wouldn&rsquo;t. But as we&rsquo;ve seen before, often, it&rsquo;s the names we don&rsquo;t know who end up making the biggest difference. Alex Caruso, anyone?&nbsp;
Neither DeMar DeRozan, Buddy Hield nor Kyle Lowry will be coming to save the day; Pelinka and James got themselves into their current mess, and they&rsquo;ll have to get themselves out.
With their season ending much sooner than anyone could have imagined, the Lakers will have plenty to address over their long summer.
But, at least in the NBA, small steps can lead to major strides.
With few options, the Lakers should be so wise.
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With the Los Angeles Lakers out of playoff contention, they must now focus on rebuilding like a small-market team.

Only fix for LeBron’s Lakers is to operate like a small-market team

The Miami Heat were supposed to be peaking now.
After nearly one calendar year, Victor Oladipo returned earlier this month. Shortly thereafter, four months removed from <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanFonsecaNY/status/1479485862962413574" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a neck injury via that Nikola Jokić incident</a>, Markieff Morris finally came back. Beginning on March 5, the Heat were engaged in a stretch that included seven-straight home games &mdash; of which they won five &mdash; before their current back-to-back losing streak, their worst of the season.
Still, despite holding first place in the Eastern Conference, it&rsquo;s felt like the Heat have needed a jolt &mdash; nothing more amplifying of that fact than their last two games. In Philadelphia, against the 76ers without James Harden and Joel Embiid &mdash; <a href="https://twitter.com/5ReasonsSports/status/1507045025296928776" target="_blank" rel="noopener">whose broadcast apparently didn&rsquo;t want them to win</a> &mdash; defeated a mostly healthy Heat team. Miami was missing Oladipo and Gabe Vincent, but still had Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry, all of whom were nearly 30-balled by Tyrese Maxey.
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Okay, road game, regular season, 1-of-82 &mdash; sh*t happens.
But Wednesday, with no Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, James Wiseman, Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II (or Baron Davis, Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway or Monta Ellis), the Golden State Warriors &mdash; led by a 30-ball from Jordan Poole &mdash; punked the Heat on their home floor, 118-104.
Look, these are still NBA players, sometimes that happens too.
What typically doesn&rsquo;t &mdash; in public &mdash; was the, &ldquo;<a href="https://twitter.com/LeBatardShow/status/1507040697219797000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">kerfuffle, a hurly-burly, tomfoolery, a skirmish, a quarrel, a brouhaha, a dust-up, a hubbub or agree to disagree</a>.&rdquo;
You&rsquo;ve probably seen it by now, but here:
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Jimmy Butler was HEATED in the Miami huddle after the Warriors went on a big run to start the second half <a href="https://t.co/6waBmHlL1r">pic.twitter.com/6waBmHlL1r</a>
&mdash; Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCSWarriors/status/1506804574320955392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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<ul>
<li>Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra picks up a clipboard just so he could throw it.</li>
<li>Butler and Udonis Haslem need to be separated.
<ul>
<li>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll beat yo ass,&rdquo; which we&rsquo;ll get to in a bit.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Markieff Morris and PJ Tucker act like this is a regular Wednesday, and it might be.</li>
<li>Warriors rookie Moses Moody looks amazed and/or confused.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Haslem telling Jimmy Butler &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll beat your ass&rdquo; 😂 <a href="https://t.co/9AcQiNw6WY">pic.twitter.com/9AcQiNw6WY</a>
&mdash; Ted Buddwell 🏀🏈 (@TedBuddy8) <a href="https://twitter.com/TedBuddy8/status/1506806343402893315?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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After the game, and after joking that the team was heated about making dinner plans, Spoelstra offered his thoughts on the tense moment.
&ldquo;It was pretty clear. We have a very competitive, gnarly group; we were getting our asses kicked, for two straight games, we were not playing to the level that we wanted to play," Spoelstra said. "Every single person in that huddle was pretty animated about our disappointment in how we were playing...
&ldquo;... Everything has to be better across the board. It starts with our leadership &mdash; our veteran players have to lead. And then, we just have to play better. Play better to our identity, play more consistently, and that&rsquo;s really all the discussions were. I know how it can look to the outside, but as I mentioned before, that is more our language than playing without passion or without toughness or without multiple efforts and lifelessness.&rdquo;
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Tucker, along with Lowry and Adebayo, was one of the three Heat players to address the media after the game. He also downplayed the confrontation.
&ldquo;Something happened?&rdquo; Tucker <a href="https://youtu.be/A4T3AbNbufs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked with a smirk</a>. &ldquo;You put cameras on any NBA team, football team, any team, man. (We&rsquo;re) No. 1 in the East, finally got our whole team back, got our butts handed to us two games in a row by teams who don&rsquo;t even have their star players... emotions run high ... I laughed, man. I walked off the court laughing... This is part of the game.&rdquo;
Lowry acknowledged that "it&rsquo;s crazy,&rdquo; but quickly added that &ldquo;it&rsquo;s passion.&rdquo;
"We&rsquo;re in a situation where we have a lot of competitive guys. Our biggest competitor is our head coach. Jimmy and UD are tough competitive guys. It&rsquo;s good sometimes to get some anger and frustration out and just talk about it," Lowry <a href="https://youtu.be/ssv0jGhR50Y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>. "We&rsquo;re gonna have situations that make people uncomfortable, but at the end of the day, as long as we&rsquo;re comfortable and we figure it out, it&rsquo;s all that really matters. And as long as we&rsquo;re still together, and we are.&rdquo;
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NBA players, veterans, reporters, veteran reporters, coaches, staff, referees, families and secret families would all tell you that this happens, and particularly with contenders. With the Heat specifically, it&rsquo;s an organization still run by the famously confrontational Pat Riley, who probably looks at this as a regular Wednesday despite the magnitude of social media amplification in 2022. Because this happened publicly, though, chances are this isn&rsquo;t the first time, just the most public. &nbsp;
Hardened personalities clash every now and then because they want the same goal and might have occasional philosophical differences on how to get there with their teammates. They can argue off of raw emotion because that&rsquo;s who they are, and the emotion itself mainly expresses that they care &mdash; care enough to argue over it, and are prideful enough to defend themselves publicly because of it. That&rsquo;s probably closer to what this actual is &mdash; the Heat, more than most teams and organizations &mdash; have probably earned that.
We&rsquo;ve heard his story, but it bares reiterating: Butler was homeless as a teenager and worked his ass off to become a first-round pick four years after being a JUCO-signee out of high school. Four years after being drafted, he won Most Improved Player, and has been a perennial NBA All-Star and All-Defensive player ever since while earning nine figures.
Just think. No, really, think about the self-belief that dude must have to pull that off? He never would&rsquo;ve went toe-to-toe with LeBron James in an NBA Finals without it.
Haslem is 41 years old, still in the league and has the respect of damn near everyone you could think of. He&rsquo;s a been through it all, seen it all and is an old-school dude who really values respect. Haslem went undrafted out of the Florida Gators program in 2002, played in France, came to the Heat in 2003 and has been there ever since.
Spoelstra was initially hired as the Heat&rsquo;s video coordinator in 1995 &mdash; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/sports/basketball/spoelstra-has-heat-right-where-it-wanted-to-be.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">even predating Riley&rsquo;s tenure in Miami</a> &mdash; and worked his way up onto eventually becoming the head coach in 2008.
Remember last season when Haslem went at Dwight Howard? Notably, before even discussing this with teammate Duncan Robinson and podcast co-host David Reid on the Long Shot, Haslem notes how close he&rsquo;s been with Coach Spoelstra. We don&rsquo;t know what Butler said, but it might be fair to suggest Haslem felt someone was being disrespectful; sometimes, in the heat of battle, that happens too.
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&ldquo;Me and Spo been through a lot, man,&rdquo; Haslem said on the Long Shot in August. &ldquo;We done been through the bottom, we done been mad at each other, we&rsquo;ve been on the same team, we done evolved to now, we&rsquo;ve just got a great relationship. It&rsquo;s symbiotic, we don&rsquo;t have to say it, we can just feel it. I can look at him, and he can look at me.&rdquo;
Sometimes, these blowups are necessary &mdash; in a team environment, with your siblings, significant other, your bodega guy, your barber and/or your side piece. (Sometimes, you gotta get people to know their role, yanno?) Often, you just can&rsquo;t let failures fester, and there&rsquo;s a need to outwardly address them. Miami did that in a very "Heat" way, according to them.
For the Heat, it's very simple from here. This either invigorates you in time for the playoffs, or it derails your season at the worst possible time. It either really works or it really doesn&rsquo;t.
&ldquo;You can use moments during a season to catapult you,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;You can galvanize together over frustration and disappointment. Teams can also go the other way; I don&rsquo;t see that with our group, I don&rsquo;t see that with our locker room. But we have needed a kick in the butt from these two games.&rdquo;
They did, and now, they&rsquo;ll also have one of the most essential things an organization could obtain this last in the year &mdash; clarity.
If this works, the Heat will be a legit contender, mixing it up in a loaded Eastern Conference dogfight with the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets and 76ers.
If it doesn&rsquo;t, and they flame out of a second-straight post-season, they&rsquo;ll have clarity on what to do next this summer.
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Bryan Fonseca reviews Jimmy Butler and Erik Spoelstra's tense moment and why it might've been beneficial for the Heat.

The Heat’s blow-up was necessary, but now the rest is up to them

During a timeout, Jimmy Butler got into a verbal altercation with teammate Udonis Haslem and coach Erik Spoelstra, as caught on camera by <a href="https://twitter.com/nbcswarriors/status/1506804574320955392?s=21" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Warriors on NBC Sports Broadcast</a>.
Whatever Butler said must have hit a nerve, because both Spoelstra and Haslem had to be held back, while Haslem kept repeating, "I'll beat your a**!"
The Heat eventually lost to the Warriors 118-104.
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Jimmy Butler was HEATED in the Miami huddle after the Warriors went on a big run to start the second half <a href="https://t.co/6waBmHlL1r">pic.twitter.com/6waBmHlL1r</a>
&mdash; Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCSWarriors/status/1506804574320955392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Jimmy Butler had a verbal spat with Udonis Haslem and Erik Spoelstra while Miami faced off against Golden State

Clip shows Jimmy Butler feuding with Erik Spoelstra and Udonis Haslem

Jordan Poole scored 30 points plus had a career-best nine assists, and the short-handed Golden State Warriors scored the first 19 points of the second half on the way to beating the frustrated Miami Heat 118-104 on Wednesday night.
Damion Lee, Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins each scored 22 points for the Warriors, who got 11 points from Gary Payton II and 16 rebounds from Kevon Looney.
Kyle Lowry scored 26 points, Bam Adebayo had 25, Jimmy Butler finished with 20 and Duncan Robinson had 13 for the Heat. Miami shook off the huge Warriors run &mdash; and a huge dust-up on its bench during a timeout &mdash; to lead briefly in the fourth, then let the game slip away and had its lead in the Eastern Conference race trimmed to 1-1/2 games over Milwaukee and Boston.
Miami played without Tyler Herro, who got the night off because of a sprained left knee, and Gabe Vincent because of a toe contusion.
The Warriors were already without Stephen Curry because of a sprained left foot and Andre Iguodala with low back tightness, plus gave Draymond Green, Otto Porter Jr. and Klay Thompson the night off for injury management.
Golden State made that decision based on medical rationale and a desire to minimize the chance of injury going into the playoffs &mdash; not because of a frustrating loss at Orlando on Tuesday, coach Steve Kerr said.
&ldquo;Just talking with the training staff and continuing the process of making sure our players who have been injured or who are recovering from injuries are getting the care they need and the rest they need and not subjecting them to risk,&rdquo; Kerr said. &ldquo;These decisions are based on process, not on the results of the previous night&rsquo;s games.&rdquo;
Miami couldn&rsquo;t hit anything to start the second half. That&rsquo;s when the Heat contemplated hitting one another.
Golden State started the third quarter on a 19-0 run &mdash; capped by three 3-pointers from Poole from 31, 35 and 30 feet respectively, two of them banked in from just in front of the Heat bench to make a disastrous start even worse for Miami.
And during a huddle during a timeout during that Warriors&rsquo; flurry, tempers flared on the Miami bench. Butler and Udonis Haslem exchanged words, both needing to be held back by teammates. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra appeared to have words with Butler as well.
Miami seemed to channel the anger.
The Heat went on a 19-6 run to get the lead down to a 75-69, had the margin down to 81-80 entering the fourth and went up by three early in the final quarter.
Golden State wasn&rsquo;t flustered in the least. Back-to-back layups by Kuminga gave the Warriors the lead to stay, and a trio of 3-pointers &mdash; by Lee, Payton and then Poole &mdash; just about sealed things, putting Golden State up 105-95 with 4:21 left.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Golden State improved to just 7-12 in its last 19 games. ... The Warriors won for the first time in their last four trips to Miami. Golden State&rsquo;s last win on the Heat home floor was Dec. 3, 2017.
Heat: Olympic sprinting legend Usain Bolt of Jamaica was in the crowd. ... It was the second straight loss to a short-handed opponent. Miami lost in Philadelphia on Monday when the 76ers were playing without James Harden and Joel Embiid.
50-50 BALL
Not only was the score tied 50-50 at halftime, but the score was also tied in each of the first two quarters -- 23-23 in the first, 27-27 in the second. It was just the second game in the NBA this season to be tied after one quarter and again at halftime; on Nov. 26, the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings were tied 20-20 after one, tied 43-43 at the half, and they were just getting started. They were tied after regulation and two overtimes before the Kings prevailed 141-137 in triple-OT.
TIME OFF
The Warriors have three more back-to-backs remaining &mdash; Sunday and Monday at Washington and Memphis to end this five-game trip, April 2 and 3 against Utah and Sacramento, then April 9 and 10 for regular-season-ending games at San Antonio and New Orleans. Thompson and Porter are almost certain to be held out of one game in each of those sets, Kerr said.
UP NEXT
Warriors: Visit Atlanta on Friday.
Heat: Host New York on Friday.

Jordan Poole scored 30 points, had a career-best 9 assists and the shorthanded Warriors scored the first 19 points of the second half

Short-handed Warriors get past frustrated Heat, 118-104

The Miami Heat are one of several teams that can legitimately win an NBA championship this season, full stop.
If you&rsquo;ve watched them at all through objective eyes, you&rsquo;d likely conclude that they&rsquo;re somewhere between fringe Eastern-Conference-championship contenders and potential NBA champions if certain things break right.
The Brooklyn Nets, with Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving, might have the most talented trio of the Eastern contenders, but they probably won&rsquo;t have enough time to establish their chemistry this season &mdash; even if Irving could play home games starting now. (Talent is cool, but talent and chemistry wins.)
The Philadelphia Sixers will have Joel Embiid and James Harden, but that will either really work or really won't. The Milwaukee Bucks have championship equity and the best combination of talent, chemistry and two-way basketball between Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton, but have just been &hellip; weird.
The Boston Celtics have Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown without an awesome build around them, but they have an indisputably better team today than this time last week (and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-celtics-are-coming" target="_blank" rel="noopener">they've been excellent over the last month-and-a-half</a>). And the Chicago Bulls, if healthy by the spring, have one of the most balanced starting fives in the league, but have as many ifs as DeMar DeRozan&rsquo;s had points these last five games. (Okay, not quite.)
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Where that lands the Heat is simple &mdash; they can get to the NBA Finals, but like their many peers, will need plenty to break right in their favor for reasons that have grown increasingly evident in watching a healthier version of them in recent games. (Having Erik Spoelstra, arguably the best coach in the NBA, also helps.)
The Heat are, again, the workhorse team that could probably get to the highest level defensively among the teams we&rsquo;re discussing, but have questions relating to their late-game offense. That could ultimately decide their fate.
Jimmy Butler is an elite two-way player, and still one of the most underrated stars in the league in a culture that is increasingly highlight-driven &mdash; and Butler isn't known for his highlights. He&rsquo;s also engineering a Heat offense that really pops for most of the game, but grows stagnant toward the end of close encounters. It&rsquo;s like a regression to where the team was in the latter portion of Dwyane Wade&rsquo;s pre-retirement run with the Heat, as Ethan Skolnick noted on last night&rsquo;s <a href="https://fivereasons.podbean.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Five On The Floor podcast</a>.
Bam Adebayo would be garnering Defensive Player of the Year attention if not for a thumb injury that sidelined him for several weeks. His offensive aggression or lack thereof (less so as of late) is a never-ending talking point on Heat Twitter, largely because it impacts the team&rsquo;s championship aspirations in either direction. Tyler Herro is currently the team&rsquo;s best shot-creator other than Butler, and &hellip; well &hellip; as well as they do everything else, that component is what&rsquo;s holding them back from being slam-dunk championship contenders, according to some.
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I'm assuming this is the aggressive Bam Adebayo some are looking for. <a href="https://t.co/7ukBX5wceG">pic.twitter.com/7ukBX5wceG</a>
&mdash; Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) <a href="https://twitter.com/stevejones20/status/1493758857159479300?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Enter Victor Oladipo, who is progressing toward a return from surgery, and is practicing with the G League Sioux Falls Skyforce 5-on-5, giving the impression it won&rsquo;t be long until he makes his 2021-22 season debut. Klay Thompson returned <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/warriors/warriors-provide-klay-thompson-injury-update-after-g-league-stint" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three weeks after his G League stint</a>, for what it&rsquo;s worth.
Oladipo is immediately walking into a high-pressure situation, and the Heat won&rsquo;t peg him as their savior, nor should they &mdash; but there will come a time when he&rsquo;ll need to be, for better or worse. We last saw Oladipo play way back on April 8, 2021, around 40 days before the start of the playoffs. What we saw of him last season is hard to gauge because he played 33 games with three separate teams in his first full season back from quad surgery (not including games in the bubble).
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The offensive creation wasn&rsquo;t at an All-Star level, but it was still there. Between stints with the Indiana Pacers, Houston Rockets and four games with the Heat, Oladipo averaged about 20-5-5 and 1.4 steals per game on 41/33/75 shooting splits through 32.7 minutes per contest. The lion's share of minutes came from his stints with the Pacers and rebuilding Rockets, only logging four appearances with the Heat&nbsp;before being sidelined.
With the Heat, he saw 27.8 minutes per contest, averaging 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals per contest on just 37/24/67 shooting. Even though this is the definition of small sample-size theater, you still saw glimpses of how he could impact Miami on both ends.
The Miami Herald&rsquo;s Anthony Chiang reported earlier today that Udonis Haslem &ndash; <a href="https://twitter.com/AIR305/status/1488698167579262977" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who guarded Oladipo in a viral clip earlier this month</a> &ndash; says he looks way better than last year. Usually, people would file that under bullsh*t, but you can call Haslem a liar to his face if you want. I won&rsquo;t.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen enough to know he&rsquo;s definitely better than he was last year,&rdquo; <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article258423468.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Haslem told the Herald</a>. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t seen any limping. I haven&rsquo;t seen a lack of confidence. I haven&rsquo;t seen everything so I can&rsquo;t make a fair assessment. He looks pretty [good] about where he&rsquo;s headed.&rdquo;
Chiang noted that Oladipo &ldquo;has been doing more behind the scenes in recent weeks. He traveled with the Heat on recent trips to continue his workouts around the team and has been taking part in rigorous pregame two-on-two sessions with teammates.&rdquo;
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Now, so this doesn&rsquo;t go on forever, we&rsquo;ll use Miami&rsquo;s last two games as examples to show where Oladipo could help solve problems during some worrisome fourth quarters.
Against the Brooklyn Nets, the Heat led 89-68 at one point. The Nets, who were held to 18 points in the third, erupted for 35 in the fourth, coming within one possession of Miami, largely due to [redacted] erupting for 20 of his 29 points late.
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1:32 &ndash; Irving&rsquo;s first field goal of note came as a pull-up three at the top of the key with over eight minutes left. Anticipating a screen, Gabe Vincent was slow to contest, and Duncan Robinson was late to cover.
1:45 &ndash; He pulled another one. Vincent again drops too far, awarding enough space, and Robinson gets caught behind Patty Mills setting a screen on Vincent.
1:53 &ndash; Irving takes Vincent one-on-one, and help is late coming over. Vincent, a high-level on-the-ball defender, just gets beat. It happens.
2:03 &ndash; Robinson gets beat one-on-one, and because Butler and Adebayo are worried about each dunker spot being occupied, and PJ Tucker can&rsquo;t overcommit, otherwise Mills would be nekkid for three, Irving gets to the cup.
2:12 &ndash; He gets the angle around a Butler-Robinson double team, beats Robinson with his speed, gathers over Bam&rsquo;s arm, and floats it over Kyle Lowry. A lot of other 6-foot-3 guards probably don&rsquo;t make it to Lowry there. &nbsp;
2:23 &ndash; He gets a step on Tucker guarding him at the top of the key, and drills a mid-range fadeaway.
Is Oladipo the&nbsp;answer in this setting? That would be unfair so long removed from game action, but you can throw him on Irving here for a couple of different possessions to help give the Heat defense a shot in the arm. At his peak, Dipo was a soul-sangin&rsquo; All-Defensive guard, who should at least be a quality defender again, even if he won&rsquo;t reclaim all-world status soon (if ever).
Now, let's look at the fourth-quarter breakdown, symbolized by the Heat&rsquo;s loss to the Mavericks last night, in which Miami again squandered a double-digit lead.
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For this, it&rsquo;s simple: 40 second-half points typically won&rsquo;t get it done, especially when your opposition is wildin&rsquo; from three. This could be as simplistic as the Mavs shooting 18-for-41 from three (43.9%) to the Heat&rsquo;s 7-for-27 (25.9%). But Vincent, who played all 12 fourth-quarter minutes despite having one of his worst outings in recent weeks, probably had minutes last night that would&rsquo;ve gone to Oladipo or Tyler Herro who was out with an injury (along with Caleb Martin, Markieff Morris and Dewayne Dedmon). Vincent went 0-for-2 in the quarter, both from deep, and had two fouls. Outside of a rebound, he did nothing else offensively. The team in general reverted to a simplistic offense.
Vincent is the guy whom Oladipo will primarily compete with for minutes &mdash; last night notwithstanding, he&rsquo;s been quite a revelation this season considering that he didn&rsquo;t appear NBA-ready in the two seasons prior.
The path to Oladipo getting minutes is through being a competent shot-creator on offense, and an adequate point-of-attack defender on the other end. The high-end of this would have him finishing games, even over Herro, in a lineup of Lowry-Oladipo-Butler-Tucker-Adebayo &mdash; which is attainable, but unrealistic to expect right out the gate. It&rsquo;s, for now, a dream scenario.
If Dipo&rsquo;s great, it&rsquo;ll be a good problem to have for Miami, and it&rsquo;ll raise their floor, giving them someone who&rsquo;ll be a top-three shot-creator on the team. So, the Heat don&rsquo;t need Oladipo to contend, but it&rsquo;ll sure as hell make a lot of things easier &mdash; even as Spo will have to stay up late figuring out these rotations. It&rsquo;ll also help cover up some of the team's shortcomings otherwise, on both ends of the floor, and that could be Miami&rsquo;s missing ingredient.
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Bryan Fonseca looks at the impending return of Victor Oladipo and how he'll positively impact the Miami Heat.

Victor Oladipo is coming: How he can help raise the Heat’s ceiling

I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. Last week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, is that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
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When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
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Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs too.
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Of all years, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother having a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed, and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season.
In the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

The pandemic has resulted in over 100 G League players being called up this season. But some teams can't rely on their prospects.

This season, we’re seeing the teams that trust their G League program

As the league continues to morph into an inferior product of what we saw last month, primarily due to COVID, we can&rsquo;t ignore the impact of injuries as well. Without rehashing that brutally long inactive list, if you&rsquo;ve been paying attention, you just know it&rsquo;s rough out here.&nbsp;
While the Miami Heat, sans Caleb Martin, have luckily evaded COVID thus far (knock on wood, everyone), they&rsquo;ve missed Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro with injuries, often playing without all three of them this month. P.J. Tucker is now out as well, and Markieff Morris still hasn&rsquo;t played since Nikola Jokić tried to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNMh2MRQIs4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marcus Cor Von his ass</a>.
But even before all that, the Heat entered the season with 12 healthy, fully-contracted players. That's excluding their pair of two-way slots, Victor Oladipo, who is recovering from <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31433979/miami-heat-victor-oladipo-season-ending-surgery-right-quadriceps-tendon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quad surgery</a> (again) and the O.G. Udonis Haslem, who obviously won&rsquo;t be playing a ton.
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Good news, Miami: Victor Oladipo traveled with the Heat to Cleveland. Here's some footage of some shootaround stuff he did. <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/Z0cmExXOsd">pic.twitter.com/Z0cmExXOsd</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1470430451982548999?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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The open roster spot? Well, their CEO Micky Arison, chairman of Carnival Cruise Line, wants no parts of that luxury tax during this pandemic. Rightfully so, since it isn't exactly cruise season right now.
This is admittedly a long-winded way to get to my point, but it still needed to be laid bare so we can&nbsp; understand and appreciate what the Heat have done this season despite all this wear and tear (which really goes back to the 2019-20 season, that&rsquo;s for another piece). And not only the team, <a href="https://twitter.com/BradyHawk305/status/1473490041603346435">specifically the guy helping pull the strings</a>, a man who is affectionately <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=QB1%20%40MiamiHEAT&amp;src=typed_query">referred to as QB1</a>.&nbsp;
There&rsquo;s no need to overcomplicate this any further: Kyle Lowry makes your team better.&nbsp;
Morris hasn&rsquo;t played since Nov. 8; Butler since Nov. 27 (save for a 25-minute cameo on Dec. 6); Adebayo since Nov. 29, and Herro missed three games in mid-December on top of Nov. 27 and 29.&nbsp;
Even with Erik Spoelstra as your conductor, playing musical chairs could feel like trying to beat Allyson Felix in a 100-meter sprint. And the Heat just experienced this last season, which is why they went through that 7-14 start before going 33-18 until the playoffs.&nbsp;
The difference? It starts with Lowry; it has to.&nbsp;
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First of all, producing without much of your playoff rotation is a pain in the ass for anyone.
Secondly, while Lowry&rsquo;s 13.7 points and 8.3 assists &ndash; along with 4.7 rebounds per game &ndash; have come on just 42/33/83 shooting splits, it's upticked to 16.0 points and 9.4 assists on 44/35/78 splits (3.8 free throw attempts per game instead of 1.9 previously) since Nov. 27, a 13-game stretch.&nbsp;
As much as some people would like more 20-point games out of him, that&rsquo;s not where Lowry needs to be at his best. The definition of point guard is convoluted in the modern-day, but old-school floor generals were taught to make their teammates better, first and foremost. As the game has grown more perimeter-centric and positionless, and with smaller guards being more ball-dominant, it&rsquo;s more common to see guys accumulating 22 points and 5 assists at the position instead of what Lowry&rsquo;s box scores look like.&nbsp;
Go look at the <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2022_per_game.html#per_game_stats::pts_per_g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">top-25 NBA scorers from this season</a> &mdash; more than half of them are guards, and almost 10 of them play point guard. <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2012_per_game.html#per_game_stats::pts_per_g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ten years ago</a> was much more forward-heavy, and only five of the top-25 (top-30, actually) ran the point. <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2002_per_game.html#per_game_stats::pts_per_g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twenty years ago</a>? Just three point guards were in the top-25 in scoring, and two of them averaged at least 8 assists per game. This isn&rsquo;t to say this is good or bad for the position, but it&rsquo;s changed, and it&rsquo;s probably why Lowry&rsquo;s contributions have been underappreciated.&nbsp;
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Now, that whole thing about making your teammates better...
Firstly, Lowry&rsquo;s had 10 or more assists 10 times just this season, a feat previous Heat starter Goran Dragić didn&rsquo;t achieve with the Heat until Jan. 27, 2017, nearly two years after being traded there. Dragić more closely resembles what we refer to as the modern-day point guard by comparison. But the need for a Lowry-type in the starting lineup for Miami's roster construction is probably why Dragić came off the bench in his last two years; Butler was the de facto floor general next to Adebayo, one of the best passing bigs in the league.&nbsp;
Secondly, and more importantly, the role players people were scared about suddenly look like competent guys who Spo might occasionally plug in to distort a specific foe or playoff series.
<ul>
<li>Max Strus, who our Spencer Davies <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/qa-max-strus-on-heats-nextman-up-mentality-building-confidence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke with last week</a>, is up to 10.3 points per game on 46/40/73 shooting this season, and 13.8 points on 48/41/83 shooting since Nov. 27.</li>
<li>Gabe Vincent a.k.a. Fred VanVleet Lite (mad lite, though) &mdash; he&rsquo;s at 12.8 points and 3.9 assists while shooting 46/40/74 since Nov. 27.</li>
<li>Before COVID sidelined him after a Dec. 8 breakout game, Caleb Martin was in a six-game stretch averaging 14.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.2 assists while shooting 57/52/71.</li>
<li>Veteran big man Dewayne Dedmon&rsquo;s up to 11.5 points and 8.3 rebounds over his last six while going 65% from the field and 5 of 8 from three.</li>
</ul>
And even the mainstays like Adebayo, Butle and Tucker &ndash; and Herro, in particular &ndash; have seen offensive advancements with Lowry on the floor. With Butler and Adebayo missing games, Herro has an outside shot at All-Star Weekend if he remains around 20.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists on 44/39/86 shooting. (The backcourt will be tough to crack in the Eastern Conference, but with all these variants and variables, who knows?)
Heading into Thursday night, Lowry is behind Butler and tied with Tucker for second in team VORP (0.7), second in Win Shares at 2.6, first in Defensive Win Shares at 1.2 and is just sixth in usage rating at 19.9%.&nbsp;
But forget that. Just watch, and you&rsquo;ll know. This isn&rsquo;t to say Lowry&rsquo;s an All-Star, that he&rsquo;s "Chris Paul whatever.0," or that he&rsquo;s Steve Nash reincarnated or Rod Strickland's illegitimate son.
Just watch the games. He&rsquo;s been an impactful floor general so far, and he hasn&rsquo;t even hit that many of his shots yet. They&rsquo;re starting to fall now, and presumably, it'll get easier when reinforcements arrive.
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Bryan Fonseca writes on how Kyle Lowry has been the Heat's floor general since major injuries hit the team.

Kyle Lowry's overlooked, old-school ways leading undermanned Heat

MIAMI (AP) — Udonis Haslem has been telling anyone who will listen the same thing for years, that if given a chance he can still impact winning.
The Miami Heat won’t disagree.
In a 90-second span Wednesday night, Haslem committed a foul, got a rebound, scored on a layup, blocked a shot, picked up another foul and grabbed another rebound. That’s a hectic minute and a half for anyone in the NBA — and when considering that Haslem is 41, it looks even better.
The Heat outscored New Orleans by 12 points in Haslem’s 7-1/2 minutes of work, and his two stints off the bench were a major spark in Miami’s 113-98 win.
“We have a lot of guys that are ignitable and then UD gives you that emotional ignitability,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And that’s tangible, but you can’t put an analytic to it. It gave us a great emotional spark. ... I’ve seen that so many times, that emotional lift, but that’s ignitability as well.”
Haslem’s final line: two points, three rebounds, one assist, one block. He became the sixth-oldest player in NBA history to have at least one of all those in the same game, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Vince Carter, Robert Parish, Dikembe Mutumbo and Kevin Willis.
He played the last minute of the first half, then the final 6:21 of the third quarter and immediately made an impact by taking an offensive foul in what was then a one-point game. The Heat wouldn't trail again.
“I preach ‘stay ready so you don’t have to get ready’ to these guys, and obviously, when I get an opportunity to go out there and play I can’t just talk about it — I’ve got to be about it,” Haslem said. “For me, I try to preach to my guys that I am who I really say I am and I want those guys to be who they say they are every night we step on the floor.”
Even players from other sports in Miami rave about what Haslem brings. Miami Marlins infielder Miguel Rojas was at the game Wednesday night, and left with a couple souvenirs — Haslem’s sneakers.
“Ever since I got here, UD's always been able to run up and down and impact the game, whether it's in practice or whatever it is," Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “He makes people better."
Haslem is in his 19th season, his stint Wednesday night was his longest in a game since August 2020, and he’s already made four appearances this season after making just one last year. Spoelstra said the Heat evaluated everything over the summer and one of the things he thought about was finding situations where he could use Haslem more.
“I don’t trust anybody more than UD,” Spoelstra said.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Udonis Haslem’s final line in New Orleans: 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block.

Udonis Haslem sixth-oldest in NBA history with unique stat line

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Malik Monk scored five of his season-high 27 points in overtime, and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from a big deficit in the final minutes of regulation before surging in overtime for a 120-117 victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
Russell Westbrook had 25 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds for the Lakers, who improved to 2-2 while LeBron James is sidelined by a strained abdominal muscle.
Monk put on an impressive shooting display with four 3-pointers, and Anthony Davis had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Los Angeles. The Lakers trailed by nine in the fourth quarter before rallying to beat the Heat, who had won six of eight.
Bam Adebayo scored 28 points before fouling out and Kyle Lowry had 18 points and 11 assists for the Heat, who lost Jimmy Butler to a sprained right ankle in the first half. Butler scored seven points while playing the entire first quarter, but didn't return for the second.
Tyler Herro scored 27 points, but missed two 3-pointers in the final nine seconds of overtime in Miami's third loss in four games.
Herro also missed a 3 with 23 seconds left in regulation, but P.J. Tucker threw down a tying rebound dunk. Westbrook missed a jumper and Davis missed the tip at the buzzer, sending the Lakers to overtime for the second straight game.
Los Angeles jumped to a five-point lead in OT while Miami missed six of seven shots. Adebayo trimmed the lead to 119-117 with 23 seconds left before fouling out, and the Heat forced a five-second violation by the Lakers on the ensuing inbounds play — but Herro missed an off-balance 3-pointer.
Carmelo Anthony hit one of two free throws with 6.5 seconds left, and Herro missed again to end it.
Avery Bradley scored 17 points with a season-high five 3s for the Lakers.
Roughly 13 months after the Lakers beat the Heat in the 2020 NBA Finals in the Florida bubble, the Heat showed much more cohesion than the former champs until LA's stirring late rally. The Lakers have jettisoned all but three players from their title team — and of those three, only Davis was healthy for this meeting.
Miami’s Markieff Morris sat out against his former team with whiplash stemming from his altercation with Denver’s Nikola Jokic on Monday.
TIP-INS
Heat: Adebayo, Tucker and Herro all played despite nagging injuries. ... The Lakers played a video tribute to Morris and his role in their 2020 championship run during the first timeout.
Lakers: Dwight Howard fouled out with 8:50 to play. He didn't take a shot in 11 minutes. ... Kendrick Nunn spent his first two NBA seasons in Miami before signing with Los Angeles in August, but he has yet to debut for his new team while dealing with a bone bruise in his right knee. ... Austin Reaves and Rajon Rondo both sat out with hamstring strains.
TRIPLE TROUBLE
Westbrook had his second straight triple-double and his third with his hometown team. He extended his NBA record to 187 triple-doubles and scored two huge baskets in the final minute of regulation, but also committed eight turnovers and missed the probable game-winner in regulation.
SELDOM SEEN
Thanks to foul trouble for Adebayo and Dewayne Dedmon in the first half, Udonis Haslem played a season-high five minutes in the 41-year-old big man’s third appearance of the season for Miami. Turkish big man Ömer Yurtseven also got four minutes in his most significant action of the year.
Haslem had played only five minutes this season, and Yurtseven had played just 22.
UP NEXT
Heat: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday.
Lakers: Host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Malik Monk scored a season-high 27 points and the Lakers beat the Miami Heat in overtime, 120-117.

Lakers rally late in regulation, hold off Heat 120-117 in OT

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
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At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2006-nba-champions-miami-heat_1xmxx9x7enf2b10ltxnugv0a83_lg.png" alt="" width="650" height="325" />
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice, once in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-2, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
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And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miami and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

James Posey recalls when he won an NBA championship with Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton on the Heat.

Thanks to 3 legends, in Miami, I learned how to become a winner

Some moments are so amazing, so breathtaking, that it feels like time just... stops.
And then, there was Thursday's preseason game between the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat, in which time literally stopped.
Not even two minutes into the action, the game was halted due to clock issues. The shot clock and game clock were frozen, then out completely. The delay lasted a few minutes, and play resumed with the PA announcer tasked with counting down when the would-be shot clock reached 10.
That may have been the most complicated portion of this one; the Hawks jumped out to a lead early, then proceeded to blow the shorthanded Heat out of the water in a 127-92 victory.&nbsp;
The result should come as no surprise. While the Heat only had seven players available (well, six and Udonis Haslem), the Hawks ran the gauntlet, treating the outing as a final dress rehearsal.
You don't want to take too much stock from preseason action &mdash; especially when the roster availability is this drastic between the two teams. But if there was one thing that caught my eye, it was the Hawks going small.
Late in the first quarter, we saw one of their possible Death Lineup configurations: Trae Young, Kevin Huerter, Cam Reddish, DeAndre Hunter, and John Collins.
Midway through the third quarter, they went to another version, with starter Bogdan Bogdanovic in place of Reddish in the lineup. Regardless of the wing combo, the real intrigue came from Collins logging minutes at the 5.
That alignment was a marginal success last season; <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612737&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=1628381,203991,1628981,1630168" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per PBP Stats</a>, the Hawks outscored opponents by 1.2 points per 100 possessions in nearly 700 minutes with Collins as the lone big. The offense was predictably great (118.6 offensive rating), while the defense left plenty of room for growth (117.5 defensive rating).
Looking into preseason on/off splits is irresponsible for obvious reasons. Doing so for Thursday's contest would be even more irresponsible considering the Heat's depth chart. But... there's nothing wrong with peeping the process. Within that context, a little excitement is okay.
I found myself impressed with Collins' work on the backline. The Hawks mostly switched 2-through-4, which left him with "drop" responsibilities in ball-screens. He walked the tightrope well, never committing too much (or too early) to the ball-handler, and never dropping back too far and conceding a good shot in the process.
When faced with post-ups, Collins wouldn't budge. Tasked with help duties instead of navigating the initial action, Collins rotated in a timely manner to provide assistance.
This is the vision.
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It's an on-time rotation from Collins, regardless of whether you feel the block was clean or not. He's then able to set up shop above the break, directing traffic before receiving a pass and cashing home the triple.
About the offensive end: I'm not sure what you do with Collins if he's the only big on the floor. He's a legitimate spacer, having knocked down 39.3% of his above-the-break threes in his career. Higher volume is needed to put him in the, say, Jaren Jackson Jr. class, but he's not a guy you can leave open.
And since he can't be left open, fleet-of-foot bigs have to stretch themselves thin to stay attached. That opens up driving opportunities for him.
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The threat of his jumper also unlocks driving lanes for everyone else. Of course, the spacing element is secondary to the havoc he creates as a roller in ball screens.&nbsp;
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Empty-corner actions are difficult enough to deal with; doing so with Collins at the 5 is pretty evil. You think Max Strus is disrupting that lob as the low-man?
Absolutely the heck not.
The offensive advantages are pretty clear, but they can be muted if Collins can't hold his own defensively. We'll need to see more once the games start counting, but Thursday night's showing was a step in the right direction.

Nekias Duncan breaks down John Collins' success in small-ball units in the Hawks' blowout win over the Heat.

John Collins shines at the 5 for Hawks in dress rehearsal vs. Heat

The first practices of the season in the NBA are here, with teams set to hit the floor on Tuesday to formally begin getting ready for the 2021-22 campaign.
A six-pack of things to watch as things get started:
THE CHAMPS
Milwaukee is running it back.
The Bucks used eight players in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, the title-clincher against Phoenix, and seven of them are still on the roster; the exception is P.J. Tucker, now part of the Miami Heat. The Bucks also have seven of their top eight scorers, in terms of total points, back from a year ago; the exception in that case is Bryn Forbes, who returned to San Antonio.
Plus, Giannis Antetokounmpo played the game of his life to finish off that title run, a 50-point, 14-rebound masterpiece &mdash; and he isn&rsquo;t even 27 yet. His best easily may be yet to come.
CAMP CENTRAL
San Diego hasn&rsquo;t technically had an NBA team since 1984.
This week, the city has three.
The Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets and Brooklyn Nets are all calling San Diego home this week for training camp. They&rsquo;re all practicing separately, using three different facilities. The Nets will play in Los Angeles against the Lakers on Sunday before returning home, while the Nuggets and Clippers will play in Los Angeles on Monday.
YOUTH IS SERVED
If so inclined, the Houston Rockets might be able to do something very rare in the preseason.
Start with a three-guard lineup: Josh Christopher, Jalen Green and Daishen Nix. Put Usman Garuba at forward, put Alperen Sengun at center.
It adds up to five teens on the floor.
There are no fewer than 21 teens on NBA rosters as training camps begin Tuesday, including five Rockets and a trio of 18-year-olds &mdash; Golden State&rsquo;s Jonathan Kuminga, Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Josh Giddey and San Antonio&rsquo;s Joshua Primo.
Of those, Kuminga and Giddey will turn 19 before the regular season begins. Primo doesn&rsquo;t turn 19 until Dec. 24. He&rsquo;ll be 18 years, 300 days old when the Spurs open their season Oct. 20 against Orlando.
That means he&rsquo;s in line to become the youngest player in an NBA game in more than 15 years &mdash; Andrew Bynum was 18 years, 191 days old when he appeared in a playoff contest for the Los Angeles Lakers against Phoenix on May 6, 2006.
There have been four 18-year-olds to debut in the NBA since Bynum: Dragan Bender, Sekou Doumbouya, Devin Booker and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
But technically, if Primo debuts before Nov. 17, he&rsquo;ll be younger than any of them were for their NBA regular-season games by a matter of days.
HOW THINGS CHANGE
It hasn&rsquo;t even been a year since the 2020 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat &mdash; they were played in October.
&ldquo;Feels like three years ago,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
The Lakers used 12 players in that series; of those, only LeBron James and Anthony Davis have remained with the team on an uninterrupted basis. Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard are back now, after playing elsewhere last season.
The Heat also used 12 players in that series; of those, only Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson remain in Miami.
It should be noted that in both cases, the Lakers (Talen Horton-Tucker) and the Heat (Udonis Haslem, Gabe Vincent) have had other players remain on the roster since those finals. They just didn&rsquo;t play in that title series inside the restart bubble at Walt Disney World.
PRESEASON PERSPECTIVE
The games that start Sunday when Brooklyn visits the Los Angeles Lakers mean, and this can&rsquo;t be stressed enough, absolutely nothing in terms of wins and losses.
Milwaukee went 0-3 in the preseason last year and won the NBA title. Phoenix went 0-4 in the preseason last year and went to the NBA Finals.
The only team in the last 25 years that had the best record in the preseason and went on to win the NBA crown was Golden State in 2016-17.
FINALLY, HOME
For Raptors fans in Toronto, the wait is nearly over.
The team plays at home next week. Really at home, that is.
For the first time since Feb. 28, 2020, the Raptors will play a game in Toronto when they open their preseason schedule against Philadelphia. Only a handful of players and staff remain from that team, so the Raptors are having camp in Toronto instead of going elsewhere in Canada &mdash; as they&rsquo;ve done often in recent years.
Toronto called Tampa, Florida, home last season because of the pandemic.
&ldquo;We thought it was really important to re-establish our base here and get everyone familiar with the city,&rdquo; Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said. &ldquo;A lot of our players, a lot of our staff, haven&rsquo;t been here, so we thought that was really important for us to do that.&rdquo;

The first practices in the NBA are here, with teams hitting the floor on Tuesday to formally begin getting ready for the 2021-22 campaign.

6 things to watch for as NBA training camps are set to open

The GOAT argument has heated up in recent years, with a growing contingent claiming LeBron James over the incumbent greatest of all-time, Michael Jordan. But no matter if it&rsquo;s Jordan, James, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, championships are a prerequisite.
Of course, team success is predicated on talent, and in basketball, one player impacts outcomes more so than in football or baseball. Still, the idea that the best player ever should inevitably be a decorated champion is oversimplified.&nbsp;
Ultimately, I posit that great players can achieve only so much on their own. A great supporting cast is also necessary. And if you examine the GOAT list, it becomes clear that great supporting casts are also a prerequisite. And with that being said, let&rsquo;s identify the best supporting casts of all time.
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5. Boston Celtics, 1980-1988
Key role players: Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Cedric Maxwell, M.L. Carr, Danny Ainge, Nate &ldquo;Tiny&rdquo; Archibald, Dennis Johnson
Championships: 3 (1980-81, 1983-84, 1985-86)
These teams saw some turnover, but the core remained mostly intact throughout the '80s &ndash; Bird, McHale, Parish and Archibald or Johnson. The 1983-84 and 1985-86 iterations had five players average 30 or more minutes per game, and all three championship teams featured five players averaging double figures in points per game. They were incredibly role-oriented and players were intimately familiar with those roles. But ultimately, the main case for the Celtics is that they boasted three of the 50 greatest players ever for their entire run in the '80s.
Side note: Despite having a reputation for being banged up, Bird missed very few games in his prime, making it incredibly difficult to examine how the Celtics fared in his absence. In fact, between the 1980-81 and 1985-86 seasons, Bird missed only five regular-season games. While that&rsquo;s clearly a ridiculously small sample size, the Celtics were 5-0 in those games without Bird. It&rsquo;s not enough to make the case that the Celtics&rsquo; supporting cast achieved anything significant in his absence, but it&rsquo;s something.
4. Miami Heat, 2012-2016
Key role players: Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller
Championships: 2 (2011-12, 2012-13)
The Heat were a surprisingly deep team. All we really remember is the Big Three and Ray Allen&rsquo;s clutch three-pointer in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals. But there was far more depth in Miami than we care to remember. Udonis Haslem, Shane Battier, Mike Miller, Mario Chalmers, Chris Anderson and Norris Cole all played big roles for the Heat. While there was a high degree of turnover in Miami in the 2010s, the key contributors were mostly the same. And they utilized lots of players; the 2011-12 team played 12 guys for 13 or more minutes per game, and the 2012-13 squad did so with 11 players.&nbsp;
But clearly nothing was more important for Miami than the Big Three. James was obviously the team&rsquo;s engine, but Wade and Bosh were crucial to Miami&rsquo;s success. Wade averaged more than 21 points per game in both championship seasons, whereas Bosh averaged slightly less than 20 points per game while taking on significantly more defensive responsibilities than in Toronto. Wade and Bosh combined to make the best one-two punch of any of the supporting casts on this list, making their inclusion here obvious.&nbsp;
3. Golden State Warriors, 2014-2018
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Key-role players: Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Ande Iguodala, Shaun Livingston
Championships: 3 (2014-15, 2016-17, 2017-18)
This team is the hardest to write about, mainly because calling Durant a role player feels like it's backwards. Durant has half as many MVP awards as Curry and more scoring championships. But the premise of the article is that the great teams have supporting casts and that great supporting casts support starts &ndash; and Curry is that star. He was in Golden State for their first championship without Durant, and he remains there following Durant&rsquo;s departure. In total, Golden State won three championships in a relatively short amount of time, and in the one year which they did not win the championship, they set a new single-season NBA win record (73).&nbsp;
But however you view this team, it accomplished a great deal &ndash; and it was not predicated on one star. On the contrary, the Warriors spread the wealth. The 2017-18 Warriors, for example, averaged 113.5 points per game, 73 of which came from Curry, Durant and Thompson. And everyone on this team felt like part of the supporting cast at times. Further, 14 players averaged 13 or more minutes per game &ndash; which is more than any other team on this list.&nbsp;
2. Chicago Bulls, 1995-1998
Key role players: Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Ron Harper, Toni Kukoc, Steve Kerr, Luc Longley
Championships: 3 (1995-1996, 1996-1997, 1997-1998 &mdash; six in total, but the teams and supporting casts are distinctly different, separated by Jordan&rsquo;s retirement)
Eras make a difference. And the 1990s Bulls, featuring Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, were just flat-out better than every other team in the NBA in the 1990s. Want proof? The Bulls were one of only five teams with two starters in the All-Star games in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Oh, and their second All-Star, Pippen, was second runner-up for MVP in 1993-94, leading the Bulls to the third-best record in the Eastern Conference in 1993-94 without Jordan. Ironically, Pippen was probably the most equipped to go head-to-head with Jordan.
Jordan, Pippen and Rodman brought unmatched defensive versatility, and Jordan and Pippen were unstoppable, thanks to an unprecedented combination of size and skill. Add in a 6-foot-6 point guard (Harper), a big, ultra-skilled wing (Kukoc) and a dead-eye shooter (Kerr), and it was just too much for teams in the 90s to handle. Bottom line: Jordan was obviously unstoppable. But one player can&rsquo;t do everything on his own, and the fact that this team is still arguably the best team ever more than 30 years since they were dismantled speaks to just how great their supporting cast really was.
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1) Los Angeles Lakers 1979-1988
Key role players: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Byron Scott, James Worthy, Mychal Cooper, A.C. Green and Mychal Thompson.
Championships: 5 (1979-80, 1981-82, 1984-85, 1986-87, 1987-88)
The Showtime Lakers are about as unique a team as you&rsquo;ll come across in basketball history. Their most important player was unquestionably their point guard, Magic Johnson, evidenced by his leading the Lakers to a championship as a rookie while filling in as center in a decisive game. Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer and arguably, at his peak, the best player ever. James Worthy is also an all-time great, having been named a member of the NBA at 50&rsquo;s top 50 players of all time.&nbsp;
But nothing speaks to the team&rsquo;s versatility more than this &ndash; Byron Scott led the Lakers in scoring in 1987-88 (21.7 points per game) despite the presence and health of Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar and Worthy.&nbsp;
Great players are clearly the building blocks on which great teams are built. But great supporting casts are a necessary part of all dynasties, too. Without them, teams run out of gas and get out-maneuvered by complicated defensive schemes. At the end of the day, you need both &ndash; and sometimes more &ndash; to win championships in the NBA.

Drew Maresca takes a look at some of the best supporting casts around NBA GOAT candidates.

Which NBA teams had the best supporting casts of all time?

Udonis Haslem will return to the Miami Heat on a one-year, $2.6M deal for his 19th NBA season with the franchise, source tells The Athletic.
Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1425543622062088198" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shams Charania/The Athletic</a>
ANALYSIS: Haslem is the last member of the Heat's Big Three dynasty who is still with the team. The 41-year-old has not played over 100 total minutes in a season since 2016-17. This past year, he checked in for just a single game, scoring four points in 2:40 against the Sixers.

Haslem is the last member of the Heat's Big Three dynasty who is still with the team.

Udonis Haslem to return to Heat on one-year deal worth $2.6 million

Sometimes, it feels like the reality of possessing cap space does not line up with the rainbows-and-unicorns world of possibilities that some people imagine.&nbsp;
Fans can daydream about their favorite franchise hunting for a star because they have enough cap space to offer a max contract. But even if their team is capped out, many fans still spend hours on their online trade machine of choice until the result pops up with a green "Success!" and they've cracked the financial code on a title-winning maneuver.
If every NBA team can still wheel-and-deal, what's the benefit to having cap space, especially with a free-agency class generally viewed as mediocre?
It helps a lot &ndash; and often in unsuspecting ways. Take a look at the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have absorbed undesirable contract after undesirable contract to help add to their war chest of draft picks. Or the Brooklyn Nets, who kept their books clean enough to eventually pull off the James Harden blockbuster. Same with the Atlanta Hawks, who picked up some key depth pieces in 2020 free agency en route to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Teams get rewarded for being smart with their money. This offseason, eight teams will have an easy path to meaningful cap space while the rest would have to jump through more hoops. These squads range from playoff hopefuls to aggressive rebuilders. Who should capitalize with a spending spree or headliner trade, and who should wait for the longer-term future?
Let's break down each team's situation, using cap numbers provided by <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/">Basketball Reference.</a>
Charlotte Hornets &ndash; Possible Cap Space: approx. $27.4 million
This estimate means the Hornets let Devonte' Graham and Malik Monk hit restricted free agency. They'll also have Cody Zeller, Bismack Biyombo and Nick Richards as unrestricted free agents &ndash; notably, all bigs. Graham is probably the most coveted of the five, and if the Hornets re-sign him, they'd have a pretty nice guard rotation between Graham, LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier.&nbsp;
Charlotte barely missed out on the postseason, and that was with a rookie leading the way and clear improvement areas inside. They can absolutely make the necessary depth moves (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/hornets-mavericks-expected-to-pursue-richaun-holmes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Richaun Holmes?</a>) to get close to playoff contention, and they have the No. 11 overall pick to help as well. Outside of Gordon Hayward's $120 million contract, Charlotte isn't tied down to too many deals right now.
Should they spend?&nbsp;Yes.
Miami Heat &ndash; Possible Cap Space: approx. $34.5 million
The Heat would currently be over the cap, but that's before making a decision on team options for Goran Dragic ($19 million) and Andre Iguodala ($15 million). Those should probably be declined, and if they also ditch Omer Yurtseven's non-guaranteed deal, that suddenly gives Miami a ton of space.
However, the Heat would also have just five players on the team. They have to make re-signing decisions on Victor Oladipo, Duncan Robinson (RFA), Kendrick Nunn (RFA), Trevor Ariza, Nemanja Bjelica, Dewayne Dedmon, Udonis Haslem and the aforementioned players (Dragic, Iguodala and Yurtseven).
Miami is in a tough position. The Heat should be increasing their threat level as a playoff team, but first they simply have to worry about keeping the roster intact.
Should they spend?&nbsp;Yes.
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Memphis Grizzlies &ndash; Possible Cap Space: approx. $24 million
The Grizzlies are in fantastic financial standing. With this estimate including Justise Winslow's $13 million team option being declined, only two players (Jonas Valanciunas and Dillon Brooks) will be making eight figures. Memphis will have 13 players, plus the No. 17 and No. 51 overall draft picks, at its disposal.
At the same time, the Grizzlies have been on the doorstep of the playoffs in two consecutive seasons, despite boasting one of the youngest rosters in the Association. There's no need to make a move simply to make a move. Everything should be purposefully built around Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. &ndash; even if that means politely passing on splurging this summer.
Should they spend?&nbsp;Probably not.
Toronto Raptors &ndash; Possible Cap Space: approx. $22 million
Perhaps the single biggest offseason decision, outside of some superstar player options, is Kyle Lowry's unrestricted free agency. Does the face of the Raptors make sense on an expensive contract as he approaches age-35? Or do the Raptors sign-and-trade him and take that gut punch? They also have to think about paying restricted free agent Gary Trent Jr.&nbsp;
Toronto can get to about $22 million in room prior to those decisions by renouncing Rodney Hood and Aron Baynes. Considering they're still very much a win-now team with long-term commitments to Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby, I think the franchise should pay up to keep both Lowry and Trent Jr. It's unlikely they can match that short-term value with another move.
Should they spend?&nbsp;Yes &ndash; to re-sign their own talent.
Dallas Mavericks &ndash; Possible Cap Space: approx. $20.5 million
This is not a hot take by any means, but Luka Doncic desperately needs help on both sides of the ball. Dallas has to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/for-dallas-building-around-luka-doncic-is-only-going-to-get-harder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make something happen</a> after a pretty tumultuous start to the offseason. They get some space with Tim Hardaway Jr. and J.J. Redick hitting free agency.&nbsp;
While $20 million is not a max slot, it can assuredly net a secondary scorer or prominent 3-and-D player who can take some pressue off of Dallas' franchise cornerstone. The Mavericks should feel the most pressure to spend of any team here. Every season that they underwhelm, the "Free Luka" chants will get louder.
Should they spend?&nbsp;PLEASE Yes.
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Oklahoma City Thunder &ndash; Possible Cap Space: approx. $38 million
Even with Kemba Walker getting $36 million next season, the Thunder are free and clear in cap contexts because their second-largest contract will be the approximately $6 million given to the No. 6 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. That's simply amazing.
OKC should continue to lean on its staple move: taking on bad contracts paired with picks or prospects. The full-scale rebuild is still in effect, though pieces are quickly coming together. There's no need to get sidetracked with spending money when everything is going according to plan. With 11 current players and six picks in the 2021 NBA Draft (three first-rounders and three second-rounders), the roster will fill itself out.
Should they spend?&nbsp;No &ndash; except to take on contracts for young talent.
San Antonio Spurs &ndash; Possible Cap Space: approx. $48 million
San Antonio is at a crossroads unlike any other team. Veterans DeMar DeRozan, Patty Mills and Rudy Gay are unrestricted free agents, and the oldest player currently under contract is now 27-year-old Derrick White. After hanging on the fringes of contention since Kawhi Leonard departed, this feels like a real reset for the Spurs, who now have the <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/san-antonio-spurs/cap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">youngest roster in the entire NBA</a>.
They should keep things that way. The Western Conference is as loaded as ever and even play-in spots will be a battle. Dejounte Murray, Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell lead an intruiging young core that still appears well away from the playoffs.
San Antonio has been winning for decades, but they should not shell out larger deals to keep the team afloat when they can focus on developing something bigger long-term.
Should they spend?&nbsp;No.
New York Knicks &ndash; Possible Cap Space: approx. $50 million
New York's playoff berth was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/roundtable-which-teamplayer-surprised-you-most-this-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the biggest surprise of the season</a>, so many people are forgetting that this was supposed to be a youth-focused team. But now that the postseason is the expectation, there's no turning back, and the Knicks have the potential to build out a deep roster without sacrificing young talent.
Assuming New York picks up Julius Randle's team option, they still have a ton of room to add better-fitting parts around Randle, R.J. Barrett, Mitchell Robinson and Immanuel Quickley. The franchise can choose to retain or bypass unrestricted free agents Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, Nerlens Noel, Elfrid Payton or Alec Burks. They will also be the easiest financial facilitator for any blockbuster trades.&nbsp;
Obviously, they shouldn't get reckless, and unless the perfect storm comes, they shouldn't part with their youth. But otherwise, go crazy, Leon Rose and Scott Perry.
Should they spend?&nbsp;Yes.

Eight NBA teams have an easy path to meaningful cap space this summer. Which franchises should splurge on free agents or trades?

Which NBA teams have cap room this offseason, and should they use it?

Pat Riley has identified an immediate priority for the Miami Heat: Do absolutely nothing.
After a nonstop year, that&rsquo;s his requirement.
There will be more than enough time for roster decisions, offseason workouts, preparing for the combine and draft even though Miami doesn&rsquo;t currently have a pick, piecing together a summer league team and free agency.
For now, however, Riley wants just about everyone in the organization to take a break after a whirlwind 12 months that saw an NBA Finals appearance one season, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-travel-lifestyle-nba-olympic-games-0dbfbf5c6af32e24be5c6da788926135">an exit from another season in a first-round sweep</a> and all the while dealing with the coronavirus pandemic that changed just about everything.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been at this for a while, so where we&rsquo;re headed first is rest,&rdquo; Riley, the Heat president, said Thursday in his annual state-of-the-team address that traditionally comes shortly after the season ends. &ldquo;Our players, our staff, the people that have been here every day, every single day, they&rsquo;re mentally worn out more so than physically. And I think they just need to rest for a couple of weeks, a month.&rdquo;
It was a major storyline in the NBA this season, how the compressed schedule and the additional demands of the protocols that were put into place to deal with the virus &mdash; including daily testing often late at night or early in the morning, limits on the amount of time teams could spend together, limits on who they could be with &mdash; would grind on players and teams.
It wasn't an excuse, and Riley refused to make it one. Every team went through it, and it wasn't easy for any of them.
&ldquo;This season was unrelenting. ... I can&rsquo;t wait for the day when I can wake up and I don&rsquo;t have to worry about what time I've got to go down to the arena to get another damn test," Denver coach Michael Malone said Thursday &mdash; a day when the Nuggets had 8 a.m. testing preceding a playoff game at night. &ldquo;I think this year has been the hardest year in my 20 years in the NBA. It's the mental toll, the physical toll, the emotional toll."
Miami prides itself on its offseason workout program, especially for its younger players, and even a soon-to-be 41-year-old veteran like Udonis Haslem said he won&rsquo;t be taking much down time this offseason.
But everyone simply needs a break, even the Heat.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not total lunatics,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the series against Milwaukee ended. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll give them a little bit of time off. That&rsquo;s the way this season has been. It&rsquo;s been so hard for everybody in this association. I didn&rsquo;t realize what month it was. I didn&rsquo;t realize it was Memorial Day weekend and when I brought that up several players and staff members were right there with me. It&rsquo;s been that kind of year.&rdquo;
The Heat reopened the doors of their facility in May 2020 when the NBA allowed limited workouts to resume, and the place didn&rsquo;t slow down until Miami was eliminated from this year&rsquo;s playoffs by Milwaukee in a first-round sweep that ended last weekend. The workouts last spring led into the run in the NBA&rsquo;s restart bubble at Walt Disney World, which led to an NBA Finals appearance, followed immediately by free agency and draft prep, followed by pre-camp workouts, followed by camp and then the season.
Much was made of the 71-day gap between the end of the finals and the start of this season and how that was much shorter than usual, but the reality was that very few of those 71 days were idle. Now, Riley said, there is a chance to breathe.
&ldquo;Anybody who&rsquo;s involved in the NBA family or industry, this is a challenging year from the standpoint of how you used to do your job versus how you have to do it now,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;But, in anything in life, as I&rsquo;ve said, it doesn&rsquo;t make any difference what happens to you -- it&rsquo;s how you deal with it and adapt, and everybody had to adapt.&rdquo;
That said, Riley craves the return to normalcy, one he believes might come next season. He missed being part of some of the off-the-court things that he thinks sets the Heat apart from other franchises, things like a charity gala, a family festival, holiday parties and other events -- some just for the team, some for sponsors, some for season-ticket patrons.
He even wrote a letter to Andre Iguodala after this season, telling him how unfortunate it is that he&rsquo;s missed out on all of that during his year-plus with the Heat. Iguodala was acquired in February 2020, less than a month before the pandemic forced the league into suspending that season.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be back &mdash; I hope &mdash; to normal somewhat next year when the season starts,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s got more than enough time off to recharge the batteries. And then when we come back, I&rsquo;m sure there&rsquo;s going be some COVID protocols still, but they won&rsquo;t be as is draconian as they were. We&rsquo;ll see what they are, but I think we&rsquo;re on to bigger and better things.&rdquo;
He'll take a little downtime, too. When he returns, the summer work begins, and he believes the Heat will find a way to return to contender status.
&ldquo;Have a good summer," Riley said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;ll be a lot of news coming along the way, but again, just a last shoutout to our fans and to everybody is that we&rsquo;ll be back.&rdquo;
___
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Pat Riley has identified an immediate priority for the Miami Heat: Do absolutely nothing.