jordan’s heat bløg

OFFICIAL: We have waived Caleb Martin

🔗: https://t.co/KHzg3DlIJ0 pic.twitter.com/Jxj7YueOO2

— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) August 7, 2021

congrats to The Heat of Miami - rootin for you guys

❤️ #HEATCulture pic.twitter.com/h1FOFQgwnG

— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) June 16, 2023

overall this is sweet but it's killing me that he says "the undrafted" the way they say "the unsullied" on game of thrones

Top 10 distance runners in the NBA for 2022-23:

Bam Adebayo - 248.6 total miles
Mikal Bridges - 235.6
Jayson Tatum - 234.8
Max Strus - 232.5
Caleb Martin - 230.2
Domantas Sabonis - 225.6
Jaylen Brown - 224.7
Harrison Barnes - 219.9
Jimmy Butler - 219.7
Anthony Edwards - 218.8… pic.twitter.com/6nPlX33WVW

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) June 28, 2023

i made this point during the playoffs but bam's stamina & energy is really underrated as a skill. the number of bigs who could run the most miles in the entire league and then be banging w/ jokic in the finals as if it was mid-january is an extremely small list. and then to do it w/ the skill that he showed in that series (22/12 on 45% shooting)... it might be a nonexistent list beyond bam. i know he isn't a better basketball player than embiid & bam couldn't be the no 1 option on a contending team but i really do think that if your goal is to win an NBA title he's prob the second most valuable center in the league bcuz he's going to be bringing it in round 4 the way everyone else does in round 1. and when you get that deep in the playoffs that fact alone carries a ton of weight, and it comes with w/ an extremely high level of activity and skill on defense... it might be as important as being able to put up 30. sabonis was third team all NBA which was cool and all the kings had a great season but there's now way i'd take him over bam if i'm trying to win big & i can't think of any other center except for draymond who would even really merit discussion

jordan, talk me into "tyler herro, starting PG for the san antonio spurs"

i… don’t know if i can do that. he’s prob not a point guard unless it’s running a second unit but i do think he would be a really nice fit there with vassell, keldon & sochan. he’s a true 3 level scorer and an elite shooter and can do it off the dribble, he would bring an element they don’t have

i think PG is more nominal, just as a "lead guard" i guess. playmaking by committee kinda thing with sochan, vassell, herro, wemby. trying to think abt if miami wants dame, they may have the spurs as an option to turn herro into picks which can be flipped to portland.

two good performances from jaquez & jovic in summer league yesterday, though against a lakers squad whose best players are jalen hood-schifino and max christie

21-8-3 for jovic on 7-12 FG, 2-4 3PT, 7-12 FT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ec_kUn-oQE

he's added a noticeable amount of bulk in his upper body. still need to see him on the floor w/ real NBA players but he looks like he can hold up physically now. could see him having a gallinari type frame in a few years. if that's the case he looks like he'll be a rotation player at worst. he shot 35% from three in the g league this season and he looks like he will be able to credibly stretch the floor, the form on his shot is good. he also has great feel for the game, he should be able to put the ball on the floor against a close out and make the right pass including directly for assists. he showed some euro step finishes at the rim in this game, we'll see how well he can finish at the rim against real NBA players. he still doesn't look like a great athlete to me but i think he's going to be a very good offensive basketball player. if he can bulk up and hold up in the post it at least gives him a role on defense though i don't think he'll ever be able to move his feet very well. he was also one of the youngest players in the league at 19 last year, he just turned 20 last month. he's actually younger than brandon miller and the thompson twins. the fact that you can see the work he put in to get stronger is encouraging. the heat's g league team gets guys prepared to play in the league. i'm high on him, i think he has the potential to be not necessarily a 6th man of the year type player but a good 7th man who could prob start for stretches if needed. thinking of guys like olynyk, gallinari, kyle anderson

22-3-1 for jaquez on 8-15 FG, 3-7 3PT, 3-3 FT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH8s7cMK8Bs

jaime played as advertised. he looks like, for lack of better term, a basketball player. he's actually a good athlete when he can get some runway to jump -- he had two dunks in transition in this game including an and 1 poster on one of the lakers' centers. you see his lack of athleticism in the halfcourt though, i think taller guys who he can't bully will be able to guard him bcuz i don't see the same elevation when he only has a few steps. but he also showed an ability to hit the 3, he hit one from the wing coming off a screen on an out of bounds play and from the corner. he shot 39% from three as a sophomore but was down to 31% as a senior. maybe some of that was bcuz he had the ball in his hands more as he got older and was shooting less catch and shoot threes, because i thought his shot looked pretty good in this game. will def be watching his three point numbers going forward bcuz if he can shoot 35% (primarily off catch and shoot) and finish in transition that gives him a baseline way to contribute. he also showed some passing and off the dribble ability -- not too many assists but you can see a few good hockey assists in that video. he also made a nice one legged fade away from floater range off pick and roll as a ballhandler. he's another one where you have to see how it all translates against NBA athletes but he appears skilled and smart and there is some athletic pop there in a certain context.

if i'm portland i want jovic in a dame deal, he'd give them a guy on scoot & sharpe's timeline who can be a wing or big and he's plays in a way that wouldn't detract from their development

i think the heat will prob want to keep jaquez bcuz of his age. if he can match up w/ nba athletes it looks like he can contribute this year to some degree and they'll need to have some cheap guys playing

he was a guy I was really hoping would fall to denver, just seems like nugget and a baller

i have exactly one friend who is a college basketball nut (do not understand these people), mostly he just loves pac-12 sports (do not understand these people), and the only question he asked me about the draft was "who got jaquez from ucla"

New chapter means a new venture as a @JaiAlaiLeague team owner. Honored to be part of a sport with deep-rooted history here in my city and to me personally through memories of my dad. Excited to be doing it for Miami, for the players and for the fans around the world. #OG ⚓️ pic.twitter.com/45lbWij0Tq

— Udonis Haslem (@ThisIsUD) August 7, 2023

https://x.com/currypistonn/status/1704326458619969941?s=46&t=delhXlmZBYazm252j4iaFA

pat riley

forget which pod it was, maybe hollinger/duncan, but they had riley pretty high up on their GOAT front office rankings, deservedly so

yeah hes obvs one of the very elite alltime basketball geniuses

it was hollinger and duncan, the whole discussion was a rare miss from them though. they came down to buford/pop vs. riley/elisburg but kept hemming and hawing about how it was hard to separate buford and pop's contributions.....not sure why the same couldn't be said about riley/elisburg since elisburg is always regarded as the best cap person in the league.

they also barely nodded at danny ainge who built a championship team, a second championship contender, and is having a successful-so-far third run at it in utah. his teams have achieved way more actual success than morey or presti or ujiri.

i agree it was really odd that ainge only warranted a passing mention. i thought he was a no brainer name that got raised in these discussions

the heat vs spurs debate was interesting. probably no right or wrong answer. the spurs were forerunners in international scouting and style of play -- they basically ended the heatles w/ a more modern style of basketball than the now rudimentary version of small ball the heat were playing at the time. the heat also changed the entire league, likely forever, in putting the heatles together. and i think when you see the way a lot of these superteams have gone subsequently, you have to give the heat a lot of credit for keeping that together for 4 years and getting to 4 finals. especially given that lebron tried to stage a mutiny 3 weeks into the whole thing.

i think in terms of the concept of culture, the idea that the success of a franchise flows from the top down etc ... the heat really loom large over that entire worldview, and it's basically the dominant way that the media covers the game now. certainly ESPN nowadays. and bcuz of riley's history it's easy to situate it w/in a historical context. i think that's a complicated/controversial legacy for a number of reasons. but you can get why nate duncan, given the nature of his coverage, sees it the way he does

damn... its true tho

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F6lxo4EXwAAedSo?format=jpg&name=large

is herro cousin greg

w/ the dame stuff finally behind us these are two potential heat trade moves that i'll be keeping an eye on as the season goes on

1. paul george

impending free agent w/o a contract. i've never gotten the sense that he is as hellbent on playing in LA in the same way as kawhi. if they have another year where they're floating between the 5-10 seeds or whatever i could see him being available. clippers have also repeatedly been seeking out guards (bones, kennard etc) in recent years, and in terms of draft equity they're back to having their own future picks to trade but they're far from having an asset war chest -- by my count they could trade two firsts and two swaps which is a nice start but they'll need to add to that if they want to make a really big swing. for both of those reasons i think the herro + picks package could be intriguing here

2. the nets

i think there was smoke to the stuff about the nets being a herro team in a blazers-heat three way deal. they also just weren't in on dame at all apparently and i haven't seen their name brought up in relation to jrue at all. so despite having a potential ready-made role player roster they don't seem to be trying to compete at the top of the east this year. if they're floating in the play-in ether i could see the two teams looking at some sorta finney smith & royce young trade that allowed the heat to keep herro and add around their roster. i also like the idea of a bigger trade that involves one of those guys + cam johnson and brings herro back to the nets w/ picks but that seems more far fetched

https://x.com/mikeascotto/status/1708964078293512355?s=46&t=delhXlmZBYazm252j4iaFA

the one thing i really disagreed with in the tyler herro value wars was the idea that he’s on a bad contract, because of the cap spike and some of the deals that are being given out now. the heat getting herro at 4/120 means they have him at market rate at worst but potentially at value

that link is to the vessel 5/146 news…

one thing with herro is that he ended the season injured teams really dont like to trade for guys who arent demonstrated healthy, if he comes back and starts ripping it up takes a step forward hell get a lot more interest

When the shuffle goes from Young Nudy to Yves Tumor pic.twitter.com/SnqcRLXdZN

— Jose (@Glick_Owens) October 3, 2023

lol that's a quality niche tweet for the ilh audience

lol

Hope Jamal Cain gets a chance to play this season. Might take some injuries to open up a spot since as constructed they'll prob just run with who they have, but I would love to see him play defense in some regular season games. He really popped during the preseason games.

compupost, heat fans were up in arms that he didn’t get the final roster spot but from what i can tell they put him on the 2 way to protect his eligibility a bit? i think they like him.

if they can hit a stretch where they have martin, robinson, haywood, jaquez, jovic, cain etc all healthy i think that is an interesting wing rotation

feel like herro was his ideal self last night little less lead guard little more three point gunner, if he can fill that role consistently he could be really good

i like the slow transformation of his look into a kind of corsican sabre duellist

lol yes

his look this year is hysterical it’s true… he responded to the dame stuff by showing up looking like karate kid

i didn’t get to see the game but the big thing for him is less mid range Js more threes. i think he has the skill set to be a really efficient three level scorer

Another thing on Tyler Herro’s night against Boston was scoring with ease against tough matchups

Shot 7 for 11 when defended by Jrue Holiday or Derrick White

Quick decisions and quick shots

— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) October 28, 2023

i think if he builds his game around getting as many threes as possible like say steph curry does then thatll make the rest of his game easier

yeah i think he’s got a real hooper’s heart and wants to show off his mid range game. and i do enjoy it aesthetically. but we need them threes baby

herro launching to start the season, kudos, 2p% is off tho, could be just random but also he might be pressing a lil

most of his increase in attempts is coming from long 2 prob has something to do with it

jimmy and bam have both missed games already & jimmy has looked bad when he’s played, i think herro has had too much of the offensive load. he was also just weirdly awful vs detroit in the opener which feels like noise. but i’ve liked how he’s been getting his shots so far

you can see him being a lot more intentional about what he's doing in the pick and roll, keeping defenders on his back, using his body etc

Usually the rule for ball-handlers is to stay linear with your roller to have that available

But when you need Tyler Herro to score, it’s better to wait it out and see if your roller can pull that drop defender down a bit

Herro keeps Dame on his back the whole way, fades for 2 pic.twitter.com/C2CrDBjqlO

— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) October 31, 2023

Herro receives the handoff extremely high and refuses that screen

Now immediately has the 2-on-1 he wants

Keeps Connaughton on his back, help is peeling in far, and Portis is playing high in drop

So he does what he did all night: find the spot for the floater

That’s his game pic.twitter.com/OlZBc5QODZ

— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) October 31, 2023

idk those are really difficult shots but if theres nothing else happening i guess it is what it is, whats jimmys problem did he really go emo

those are hard shots but i do think small guards need to have that pin the defender/floater game in their bags if they're going to have the ball a lot. i think trae is one of the best at this?

yeah def pinning the defender on yr hip is a nice advanced technique and the fact that herro has it in his game now is good

i think one of the reasons along with him being a great shooter that it makes sense to tilt his game more towards 3s than standard lead guard stuff is that he doesnt have great athleticism to finish once hes in the lane and ends up taking more difficult shots than you might like, getting stronger would help tho he has a pretty slight frame so hes prob not ever going to be super strong

if he really starts hunting threes out of the pick and roll and is effective thatd open up driving and passing lanes, but if hes mostly looking more to drive or pass and not exploiting every little hole for a 3 attempt hes kiinda playing into the defenses hands IMHO

idk that hed actually be successful with that steph approach but it seems very worth a try, he even has his own draymond ready to go in bam

also i would just like to see it

i think one of the reasons along with him being a great shooter that it makes sense to tilt his game more towards 3s than standard lead guard stuff is that he doesnt have great athleticism to finish once hes in the lane and ends up taking more difficult shots than you might like, getting stronger would help tho he has a pretty slight frame so hes prob not ever going to be super strong

― lag∞n, Wednesday, November 1, 2023 12:07 PM (three minutes ago)

for sure i think the major difference between him and maxey is maxey has speed that eliminates his size disadvantage. herro has to rely a lot more on creativity around the rim & while i think he has gotten better at that every season, there is prob going to be a cap on what he can do at the rim

also -- i think most people would guess that herro is a great free throw shooter but i'm not sure people realize he led the league in FT shooting last year among qualified players and it wasn't particularly close. he shot 93.3% from FT last year -- the next highest player was KD at 91.9%

that's free money that he just has to figure out how to access. i think you can tell he's worked on drawing contact this year & i think as he develops that pin/floater game he should be able to draw fouls from guys trying to get him from behind. but also can he hold up physically if he's trying to draw 5-6 fouls per game every night in the NBA?

if he was shooting 4-10 from three every game and making 5-6 free throws per game, that's like 18 points per game right there w/o having to make a single two pointer in game action. i think that's the ultimate goal for him. the first part should be achievable, i think the second part is the real crux of it all

yeah increasing his ft rate would be good, its tough to do but not impossible

whats jimmys problem did he really go emo

― lag∞n, Wednesday, November 1, 2023 11:46 AM (thirteen minutes ago)

it's interesting. saw this tweet last night that made me raise my eyebrow

So Jimmy Butler now on injury report with knee tendinitis three nights after sitting out in Minnesota and one night after playing 28:43 in Milwaukee. He is 13 of 40 from the field this season in his three appearances. He declined comment after Monday's game. https://t.co/t1peUnB05I

— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) October 31, 2023

i didn't see the boston game but he definitely did not look spry or athletic vs the bucks

ultimately given what ppl were saying about jimmy this offseason i'm choosing to believe that he doesn't have a debilitating knee injury & is just doing his typical regular season coasting while also not making many shots

also if you look at the heat's injury reports so far this season (embedded in the above tweet) i think they're laying the groundwork for a big load management season regardless of the new rules. they've sat caleb martin the whole season, are already listing & sitting jimmy and bam

i sorta hoped that last season wouldn't embolden them to never care about playoff seedings again. but i think that's prob what happened