Zach Lowe: Rockets inquired about JR Smith, also talked to the Heat

Yep. That’s the rub. Would you make that trade?

Hou. Anderson, #1, and Melton
Mia. J. Johnson and Winslow

 

If i'm the Heat my best lineup would definitely be:

Whiteside/Bam
Johnson
Winslow
Richardson
Dragic

With Ellington coming off the bench at the 2 for Whiteside/Bam and the other guys sliding by one spot. Olynyk is not a starter like Johnson, too slow to play the 4 and at the 5 obviously not what you want out there on both ends, at least when it matters.

I mean, Olynyk is younger than Johnson, but he's still 27, not exactly young...might be possible that Miami sees him as a better asset than Johnson at 31, but eh, not sure...

 

Don't forget, Johnson and Harden are both extremely close.

 

I really don’t know the answer to that question

 

Did not know that.

 

Also... people seem to be ignoring that Johnson's deal is actually more like 3 years, $46M.
That 2020 year is player option ($16M) when Johnson will be 33.
It really wouidn't matter to a team like Htown because we won't have cap space to go big time FA hunting.
However, if Miami can get Waiters & Johnson off the books... they will have Olynyk, Richardson, Bam, & probably Winslow under contract.
Miami will be an attractive destination for free agents (always has been and will continue to be.... oh yeah, I live 90 minutes north of Miami ) and will have $$$ to burn.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/miami-heat/james-johnson-6279/

 

Like both Johnson and Winslow a lot. But Ryno trade will cost much more than that to off load him to team to acquire smaller/equal contracts/better players.

Rather 3 team trade with POR and SAC to acquire Aminu-WCS-Leonard and not give up Melton. SAC has room to absorb salary and POR can assist with sending SAC assets if they can get rid of contracts like Turner and Leonard too. This way Rockets are not sending multiple picks and players.

Or trade with CHA for Batum. Batum's contract is even higher and longer than Ryno's so Rockets would not need to add sweeteners and/or should get something back instead.

 

Why in the world would the Heat give up a good asset, let alone two, for Ryno even w/ a first round pick? Only if we take back a Waiters, which is clearly a hell to the no. Not happening.

 

Winslow is only on a one-year deal. Miami isn't getting much for him...They have said over and over that they consider him a core piece, but they didn't give him an extension.

J. Johnson (if you read the thread above) is Miami's only obvious trade piece. They would to move Waiters, but I think they'll have to wait until the deadline to find a taker.

 

Spoiler: posts culled from the other threads...

"Tik Tock" may be a misspelling of Ke$ha's 'Tik Tok' song, if it is a pop-culture reference...

 

Riley holds the cards. RA and co won't work.

 

OH MAN

 

Waiters was dogged with injuries last year, but in 2017, he was a solid player for the Heat. Trimmed a bunch of weight and hit 40% of his threes. Needs to cut out those mid-range pull-up shots but I like adding players who can both shoot and attack off the dribble.

Riley even thinks he can be the next Oladipo! lol

 

these guys actually talk about adding JR for basketball reasons. smh.

lets all get on the same page about the interest in JR so we know more than the so-called experts on TV:

HIS CONTRACT IS NON GUARANTEED IF WAIVED BY JUNE 2019. HE IS AN AMAZING TRADE CHIP THIS SEASON.
-morey would only be interested in smith in a 3 team trade where lets say we get johnson/waiters and we can flip waiters for smith. smith would be a great trade chip nearing the trade deadline for teams over the LT... or we could just waive him after the season for our own tax relief. the reported interest from morey is just him doing his job and kicking the tires on a great contract that would be an even greater trade chip

HOWEVER, the cavs are over the LT and would probably much rather waive smith themselves to save a ton of money!
-they are $14M over the LT right now. Jr is guaranteed for only about $4M. so waiving him cuts them down to only about $4M over the LT. is waiters worth staying $12M over the tax vs only $4M? probably not. is ryno and a pick worth JR and korver to them? definitely not. Jr's tax savings for the cavs is too great! if you want JR you can have him in buyout season for the vet min when he's waived.

The most realistic trade with the cavs:
remember that after waiving JR they will still be about $4M over the LT. we can create NG contracts for clark and edwards because their contracts can be converted to nba contracts and then back to 2-way NG deals. a trade like nene/clark/edwards for korver gets them under the LT after waiving JR, clark, and edwards.

 

its almost better than the ra dunk

 

Mia sez no IMO (regrets)

 

I'm extremely high on Melton. I don't include him just to move Ryno.

 

One of the most commonly asked Miami Heat question I received while away is about rumors of a potential Tyler Johnson trade to the Houston Rockets. Below are my humble thoughts on the topic (about which I imagine we all have our own perspectives)…

Rockets, if they sign Carmelo Anthony and De’Anthony Melton (perhaps for 3 years, using T-MLE) at min, would have 14 players at $135M base salary + $19M tax = $154M total. If Clint Capela were to earn $1.5M of his $2.0M potential bonus money, it’d take it to $136M + $23M = $159M.

Rockets are still active on the trade market in pursuit of a wing defender, in scenarios involving Ryan Anderson. They’ve reportedly shown interest in Kent Bazemore of the Hawks and, per @ZachLowe, they’ve also reached out to the Heat.

I’m not quite sure I see the mutual benefit in a potential Ryan Anderson for Tyler Johnson trade. I, personally, could more easily see hypothetical Ryan Anderson trade scenarios centering around the Heat’s James Johnson (which itself would be challenging).

Tyler Johnson is a strong outside shooter, perhaps better than he’s had the chance to show in Miami (where the Heat at times tend to play him on the ball at point guard). But, while he’s a solid defender, is he the versatile wing defensive stopper the Rockets crave?

Would Heat push even further into the luxury tax (by $1.2M in 2018-19, and $2.0M in 2019-20) to trade Tyler Johnson for Ryan Anderson (another PF alongside James Johnson and Kelly Olynyk), perhaps to get a low-level first-round pick (for a team that'll already have a better one)?

James Johnson wouldn’t be a perfect fit for the Rockets (with his struggles as a three-point shooter, etc.), but he is (in my humble opinion) a highly-underrated, dominant and versatile defensive stopper. He’s also a sneaky good offense creator in short bursts.

Heat would want more in a James Johnson swap than Ryan Anderson (to which MIA would need to add salary anyway). A low 1st (for team that has its own) may or may not be as appealing as, say, adding Dion Waiters, which'd clear $29M off 2020-21. But could be where Rockets hesitate.

All of which (and more) perhaps make the parameters of a hypothetical trade between the Rockets and Heat that involves Ryan Anderson (which I would guess is unlikely) more easy to speculate upon than the actual execution of one.

This is just my humble perspective, which could be wrong and with which people can certainly disagree. I tried my best to include the perspectives of both teams because, of course, it takes two willing parties to execute a trade.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...heat-ask-ira-tyler-johnson-s080518-story.html

Q: Trade for Ryan Anderson and then buy him out. The Rockets are eager to get some defensive help. Would they take Tyler Johnson? -- Jerrod, Kissimmee.

A: I know that has been floated by ESPN's Zach Lowe, at least the Anderson-Johnson talk, but I don't see the advantage for the Heat, unless the Heat covet Anderson's 3-point shooting more than that of Wayne Ellington or perhaps even Duncan Robinson. Johnson has two seasons, each at $19.2 million left on his contract, plus a trade kicker. Anderson has two seasons left at $20.4 million and $21.3 million. So the Heat actually would be paying more against the cap and tax than they would for arguably a superior two-way player. And while it could be argued the Heat are overloaded in the backcourt, I'm not sure another 6-foot-10 player is the answer. As for the possibility of buying out Anderson after a trade, the Heat also could do that with Johnson if they wanted -- and at less cost. It would seem that the two-way player, one already indoctrinated into the Heat system, would make more sense at the moment. Now, if the Heat could also offload more salary, that would be a different story.​

 

Albert's analysis as usual is spot on.

We keep coming back to James Johnson + "salary dump" Dion Waiters. If you do that for Ryan Anderson Miami saves 5M off the cap this season.

To me, that is the Miami Rockets trade if it happens. Then we would see what Morey would do with Waiters.

Refreshing to see Albert's tweets because it reaches the same conclusion from "Miami's side" as many of us do here on the "Rockets side."