Miami Heat Trading Haywood Highsmith Was JUST Step 1… What’s Next?

Miami Heat Trading Haywood Highsmith Was JUST Step 1… What’s Next?

So yesterday the mommy heat traded our guy Haywood Heismith and a lot of us were mad or annoyed including myself because I like Haywood Highmith and I thought it was very sad that the Heat just dumped him to duck the luxury tax and avoid the repeaters tax which I understand why the Heat would want to do those things. I just hate the fact that we literally lost the second round pick to do so. So, in yesterday’s video where I ranted about that, I was also very confused by the Heat’s sense of urgency. They were so eager to get under the luxury tax right now that they lost draft capital to do so. It didn’t make any sense to me. But then I started thinking, what if trading Haywood Highmith yesterday was just step one of some master Miami Heat grand plan to cap off the off season? So, I do think that there is one more move we will be seeing very soon, and that’s what I want to discuss in today’s video, which is proudly sponsored by FanDuel. The Dolphins and Lions preseason game kicks off in a couple of hours, and for some reason, the Dolphins are favorites, which doesn’t make any sense to me because the Lions have been kicking our ass in practice all week. And preseason or not, the Dolphins should probably never be favorites against the Lions. I don’t understand that at all. Just like I didn’t understand the heat trading Haywood Highmith. And of course, I wasn’t the only one shocked by the news. Barry Jackson also tweeted out, “The surprise was the rush. Why now? They had until the trade deadline.” Which is very true. I mean, you figure between now and February’s trade deadline, there would have been a better trade for the Miami Heat where they could have got under the luxury tax and not lost any draft picks. And even if the Heat didn’t want to take that risk and bring their current salary cap situation into the season, there is other moves they could have made right now. Of course, we heard it rumored a lot that they could potentially wave and stretch Simone Fonteio. And I generally hate the idea of waving and stretching a player because it’s stupid to have dead money on the books. Of course, I I think the Heat just finished paying Ryan Anderson like last year. I’m I’m using hyperbole there, but they did pay him for like three years after he left Miami. And look at a team like the Milwaukee Bucks who just uh wave and stretch dame. They have $22 million of dead money for the next 5 years, which is crazy to think about. I think that was a very dumb move by the Bucks. So, in general, I hate the idea of having dead money, but at least stretching Fonteio, it wouldn’t be that much dead money. It’s not like the 22 million that the dumb bucks have on the books. No, it would only be about $3 million of dead money for the next three seasons if the Heat were to wave funo. And I think I would have preferred that instead of trading a second round pick to get under the luxury tax, especially when you consider the Heat only have one or two tradable seconds right now. I saw some conflicting information. Uh, even Bobby Mars conflicted himself on how many second round picks that he’d actually have because there’s protections on a lot of our picks. But even if the Heat only have two second round picks, that’s not a lot. And he’d also have nothing to show for it with all the second round picks that that they’ve traded. So, it would really make you believe that the Miami Heats must have had a reason for doing that trade yesterday. Of course, my mind went to Kai Jones. I wasn’t the only one. Uh, a lot of people were thinking that. that I saw five reasons tweeted out, “Kai is all I can think of.” And we know that’s because it was just earlier this week where the Miami Heat worked out Kai Jones. According to Barry Jackson, he actually spent 4 days working out at Cassaya Center. Barry also said that one involved source uh said that he’d have had a long appreciation for Jones skill set, but is merely kicking the tires to see if signing him would be worth considering. And I’m guessing that the Heat loved Kai Jones because one, they worked him out for 4 days, which sounds like a lot to me. It sounds like a little bit more than just kicking the tires on someone if you’re allowing them to use your facility and watching them for 4 days. So, seems like they had a lot of interest in him to begin with. And then of course after the workouts, I’m assuming the Heat were very impressed. Uh because I believe that’s why they now made enough uh they made a move to have enough money to sign him because prior to this Highmith trade, the Heat were never going to sign Kai Jones. That’s why I never made a video about him earlier this week because I thought it was kind of pointless for a Heat team that was already over the luxury tax. They weren’t going to sign anybody right now that puts them further over the tax. they probably would have kept that final roster spot open, taken it into the season, and then they could have got a guy, you know, at the buyout deadline for a lot cheaper. And also, we know that Kai Jones was not eligible for a two-way contract because the Heat still have one of those spots available as well. I’m not sure that Kai Jones would have even accepted a two-way contract because he might have gotten standard offers from another team. Uh, I mean, he was on a couple of two-ways last year. Uh, but he played well, you know, he he played well between the Clippers and Dallas. Played 40 games total last year, but it was in those last 12 games with Dallas where he really popped off, averaging 11 and seven on a ridiculous 84% uh shooting from the field. So, I think that might have been enough to get a minimum standard offer somewhere else. You would have thought that if if the Heat did offer him a standard or or do offer him a standard that he would want to come here because Miami is notorious for revitalizing players careers and also there would be a clear role for him here where where he would play a lot. So I’d assume that there’s enough appeal for Kai Jones to want to come to Miami. But the urgency was why did the Heat need to to clear all that cap space right now to sign him? And the reason is very clear. It’s because about a week ago, an Italian reporter named Allesandro Luigi Maji, which I mean, my pronunciation of that name is probably not any good, and my Italian ancestors are probably very annoyed at me right now cuz I should have a better Italian accent. But he reported just a week ago that a team called Vertus Bologna, I’m sorry, it’s Is it is it pronounced Bologna? That’s how it’s spelled. Again, as an Italian, I should know how to pronounce this stuff. A team called Vertus Bologna or Bologagna is close to signing Kai Jones. And actually, I looked into that team a little bit. Apparently, they’re some Italian powerhouse. They’ve made five of their league’s last or they made the last five of their league’s championships and actually won three of them. So, it seemed like they were very close to signing Kai Jones, maybe still are. And if that’s the case, well, that explains the sense of urgency from the Miami Heat. And it was also reported that just yesterday Kai Jones was going going to leave to Nicaragua to join the national Bahamas team because he wants to play for them in the 2025 FIA America Cup. I did listen to some interviews of Kai Jones just talking about what’s uh being on the Bohemian national team means to him and it they were, you know, great answers. He seemed like a very uh mature individual, which was just nice to hear because of course last time we heard Kai Jones behind a mic was with all that controversy going on with uh the Charlotte Hornets and all that stuff. But I I don’t really want to talk too much about Kai Jones specifically in this video because if the Heat do sign him, uh he definitely deserves a separate video where we can kind of detail his background, uh all the stuff that happened in Charlotte, uh and what his role in the Miami Heats would be. But what is obvious is that is that there is a clear need for him and I definitely think he would play because the Heat need to go into next season with another big man. That is not optional. And as of right now, the other free agents that are centers are Al Horford, who’s a good player, but he’s 39 years old. You got Tristan Thompson, no, for obvious reasons. You got Taj Gibson, who’s 40. DeAndre Aton who’s 37. And then you actually got a couple of guys I might be interested in. Thomas Bryan is on that list. I wouldn’t be opposed to a reunion. I think he could be a nice energy big. Uh also Charles Bassie who’s, you know, 24 years old. Uh he had a really good, not really good, but he had a decent summer league with the Boston Celtics. I might be interested in the Heat signing him as a kind of reclamation project. But then you got Alex Len who’s most known for getting his ass kicked by Hassan Whitide and Bismak Bumbo who’s most known for terrorizing the Heat like a decade ago. So I don’t want him either. So out of all the available free agent centers, there’s nobody that really excites you as a Heat fan, at least not as much as as Kai Jones. So the Heat need a big man. So what do I I think they end up doing now that they have a little bit of money and a roster spot that they need to fill. Well, I do think that he’d ultimately end up signing Drew Smith. Yeah, that’s right. Drew Smith, not Kai Jones. Why? Well, because one, Drew Smith is not actually eligible for a two-way contract, which is something that I was saying, you know, about a month ago. A lot of Heat fans thought he was eligible. Turns out he’s not because he’s already had three separate two-ways with my Heat. Uh, and he’s not allowed a fourth. And, uh, I I think the Heat are just absolutely obsessed with him for for some reason. Let me not say for some reason because as of last season I was a converted Drew Smith believer just like I thought Haywood Highmith sucked three years ago and now I like Highmith. I also thought that Drew Smith was not an NBA player just two years ago. But last year and you know the limited time he played prior to his injury. I thought he was great and I I thought he was really really fun to watch. He is a Heat Culture guy so I do get why the Heat would want to bring him back again for like the fifth time. he’s about to break Michael Beasley’s record for Miami Heat stints. Uh, but they were uh, just like Kai Jones though, they were never going to bring back uh, Drew Smith or really add anybody else to that final roster spot without setting salary first. And I think the Heat always planned to bring Drew Smith back in some regard. And now they have the money to do so. It’s unfortunate that he tore his Achilles just last December. So, I would assume he’s not ready yet. Those usually take at least a year to get back to five on five and then he’s going to need some more time to, you know, get adjusted to everything else. But I don’t know, even outside of the injuries, there’s so many questions still like how good will he be when he comes back? He was he shot like 52% from three last year on low volume, two attempts a game, obviously limited playing time with the injuries, but can he get back to to that level of shooting? When would he play? You know, because of course the Heat resigned DaVon Mitchell who might not even start if if the starting back court is Powell and Hero. Well, now you got DaVon coming off the bench. So, what are you gonna do? Play DaVon and Drew Smith off the bench. I don’t necessarily see how how that would happen. So, I do think that he’d ultimately end up signing Drew Smith, which is, you know, a bit of a I don’t know what the word is. It’s a it’s a bit of a a killer. You know, we did this whole video hyping up Aai Jones, and I don’t think he actually ends up on the Miami Heats. Uh, could the could the Heat get both? I guess I don’t believe so. I did a little bit of math before this video. Uh, the Heat are about $4 million under the luxury tax. And for a minimum contract for a guy with three years of NBA experience, which is both Kai Jones and Drew Smith, that minimum contract is worth about $2.3 million. So, if you do the math, if sign if you sign both of them for the minimum, that comes to 4.6 million, which is over, you know, the amount that he’d have uh between where they’re at now and the luxury tax. So, I don’t think they could end up getting both as of right now. So, as much as I like Drew Smith, I don’t really think it makes a lot of sense right now. Of course, there’s other options between, you know, Smith and Kai Jones. Uh, there’s some other Heat reunion guys. Dylon Wright is out there. You know, he’s about six years older than than Drew Smith. But I like this Heat tenure could provide some of the similar things in terms of point of attack and he’s healthy right now. Of course, Precious Aua has been talked about a ton if the Heats still want to go the big man route. Even though Precious is I don’t know he’s not really he doesn’t really play like a big he plays plays more like a wing. So I don’t know there’s other free agents too but if the Heat end up not signing anybody maybe I’ll make a best available free agent video in a few weeks as we get closer to training camp. But that’s really all I got to say for this video. Shout out to FanDuel once again. And also shout out to all of y’all that filled out my family feud form if you haven’t already. The link is in the description. I plan on doing a Family Feud Miami Heat style video between some of your uh favorite Heat content creators. 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Is Kai Jones or Dru Smith joining the Miami Heat after trading Haywood Highsmith to the Brooklyn Nets. NBA and Miami Heat News featuring Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Kel’el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, Terry Rozier, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Duncan Robinson, Kevin Love, Haywood Highsmith, Pelle Larsson, Keshad Johnson, Erik Spoelstra and more. Subscribe for more Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins, NBA and NFL news.

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