Free agency starts / reported signings (merged)

[Who]

Return for Oubre unlikely

More than once during the season — and again during exit interviews — Kelly Oubre left little doubt about his desire to play for the Hornets beyond the expiration of the two-year, $24 million contract he signed in 2021.

Oubre has been a good fit and improved each year in Charlotte, recording career bests in points (20.3) and steals (1.4) per game this past season. Showing he wasn’t just jump-shot happy, he also added another element to his repertoire, driving 7.2 times per game in 2022-23. That’s the most in a single season in his career and is double the number of times he put his head down and went to the rim in his initial campaign with the Hornets.

But all that may not be enough to earn Oubre another pact with the Hornets.

With Miller’s arrival, Hayward still here and, barring something unforeseen, Miles Bridges in the mix again (we’ll expand on that in the next section below) Charlotte is pretty stocked at the wing position. And that doesn’t even take into account Cody Martin, who appeared in only seven games in 2022-23, and Bryce McGowens.

So, there’s really no room for Oubre. Meaning unless the Hornets thin out a suddenly overcrowded position, a return is unlikely. He’ll probably have to wait through the first few waves of free agency before finding a new home.

[Who]

Nice words on Dennis Smith Jr

No one on the team had quite the renaissance of Dennis Smith Jr.

Smith resurrected his career with the Hornets in monstrous fashion. He solidified himself as the team’s top defender, collecting a career-best 1.4 steals per game and a single-season high of 75 total.

According to Cleaning the Glass, Charlotte’s defense improved by 10.7 points per 100 possessions when Smith was on the court, representing the second-best number for any player who’s played at least 1,000 minutes).

DSJ signed with Brooklyn a day or two ago. Sounds like Charlotte were keen to bring him back. Their coach Steve Clifford really liked him.

[Celtics2021]

Mason Plumlee back to the Clippers for 1 year, $5 million.  They’re on pace to be about $27 million over the tax line barring any trades.

[Celtics2021]

Nice words on Dennis Smith Jr

No one on the team had quite the renaissance of Dennis Smith Jr.

Smith resurrected his career with the Hornets in monstrous fashion. He solidified himself as the team’s top defender, collecting a career-best 1.4 steals per game and a single-season high of 75 total.

According to Cleaning the Glass, Charlotte’s defense improved by 10.7 points per 100 possessions when Smith was on the court, representing the second-best number for any player who’s played at least 1,000 minutes).

DSJ signed with Brooklyn a day or two ago. Sounds like Charlotte were keen to bring him back. Their coach Steve Clifford really liked him.

Charlotte had all kinds of space to bring him back if they were actually interested.  Generally you say nice things about people unless they were excessively terrible.  Brad’s never had anything but praise for Kyrie, for example.

[Who]

Heat beat reporter Ira Winderman thinks Miami will start Tyler Herro at PG alongisde Duncan Robinson at SG. Keep Josh Richardson as a multi-positional sub. Interesting idea.

[celticinorlando]

Heat beat reporter Ira Winderman thinks Miami will start Tyler Herro at PG alongisde Duncan Robinson at SG. Keep Josh Richardson as a multi-positional sub. Interesting idea.

Good lord. What a rancid backcourt that can't guard anyone. Who is the 5th starter? Love?

[Atzar]

Heat beat reporter Ira Winderman thinks Miami will start Tyler Herro at PG alongisde Duncan Robinson at SG. Keep Josh Richardson as a multi-positional sub. Interesting idea.

Good lord. What a rancid backcourt that can't guard anyone. Who is the 5th starter? Love?

Robinson is somewhat underrated as a defensive player.  He's a minus man defender because of his below-average quickness, but he's actually quite good in their zone scheme.  Good positional defender with size and length. 

Herro is a liability in either scheme, in fairness.  Definitely agree with you there.

[Who]

Heat beat reporter Ira Winderman thinks Miami will start Tyler Herro at PG alongisde Duncan Robinson at SG. Keep Josh Richardson as a multi-positional sub. Interesting idea.

Good lord. What a rancid backcourt that can't guard anyone. Who is the 5th starter? Love?

Yep. Love as starter. C Martin as 6th man. J Rich and Lowry also off the bench. T Bryant main backup center. Ira Winderman had Highsmith ahead of Jovic as backup PF.

[gouki88]

Jovic of the Miami Heat has added 20lbs since being drafted. He is now 6-10 240lbs ball-handling forward. His shot is still a work in progress.

It'll be interesting to see how he plays in Summer League.

“He’s a great student because he’s always looking to learn,” Heat assistant coach and summer league head coach Caron Butler said. “He’s added on a ton of muscle, looks like he’s grown a little bit, as well. But just him from a communication standpoint, that’s been a point of emphasis with his growth. He’s leading in so many ways. “With Nikola, it’s probably not going to always be about scoring even though he’s going to do that well. But just his ability to make plays with his high basketball IQ is something you can’t teach. He has a great feel for the game of basketball, he’s another one that’s going to have the ball in different regions, whether it’s play-making, back to the basket, getting him downhill attacking, assaulting the paint. You’re going to see him doing multiple things, as well.”

Miami media working overtime to boost their trade asset value!

Favorite part of the off season: Where we get a bunch of reports about how how these players grew 3 inches or added 30 pounds of muscle.

I remember this occurring annually with Avery Bradley. AB was about 260lbs when he was traded

[Roy H.]

Malik Beasley to Milwaukee.

Beasley led the NBA in 3-pointers made off the bench last season.

Adrian Wojnarowski: Malik Beasley’s free agent deal with the Bucks, per source: One-year, $2.7 million minimum.
– via Twitter wojespn

Odd, they landed an actual NBA player.

[footey]

Heat beat reporter Ira Winderman thinks Miami will start Tyler Herro at PG alongisde Duncan Robinson at SG. Keep Josh Richardson as a multi-positional sub. Interesting idea.

Good lord. What a rancid backcourt that can't guard anyone. Who is the 5th starter? Love?

Yep. Love as starter. C Martin as 6th man. J Rich and Lowry also off the bench. T Bryant main backup center. Ira Winderman had Highsmith ahead of Jovic as backup PF.

Bryant was unplayable last year by Lakers or Nuggets for reasons I don't understand, but should be an upgrade over Cody Zeller.

[gouki88]

Malik Beasley to Milwaukee.

Beasley led the NBA in 3-pointers made off the bench last season.

Odd, they landed an actual NBA player.

I’m a big fan of Beasley, but his shooting was not super efficient. He’s better with ball in hand, hence struggling a bit alongside ball dominators. This will probably be a prove-it deal

[Roy H.]

Heat beat reporter Ira Winderman thinks Miami will start Tyler Herro at PG alongisde Duncan Robinson at SG. Keep Josh Richardson as a multi-positional sub. Interesting idea.

Good lord. What a rancid backcourt that can't guard anyone. Who is the 5th starter? Love?

Yep. Love as starter. C Martin as 6th man. J Rich and Lowry also off the bench. T Bryant main backup center. Ira Winderman had Highsmith ahead of Jovic as backup PF.

Bryant was unplayable last year by Lakers or Nuggets for reasons I don't understand, but should be an upgrade over Cody Zeller.

He started 25 games with the Lakers and averaged 21mpg.  How unplayable was he?

[Roy H.]

Malik Beasley to Milwaukee.

Beasley led the NBA in 3-pointers made off the bench last season.

Odd, they landed an actual NBA player.

I’m a big fan of Beasley, but his shooting was not super efficient. He’s better with ball in hand, hence struggling a bit alongside ball dominators. This will probably be a prove-it deal

Better shooter than Brissett or Banton.

[Roy H.]

Bucks also signed Robin Lopez to reunite the brothers.