Rumors

The Detroit Pistons are gauging the trade market on forward Simone Fontecchio, who’s on an expiring $8.3 million deal, league sources told HoopsHype. With Malik Beasley’s gambling investigation, the Sacramento Kings expected to pursue Dennis Schroeder in free agency strongly, the possibility Detroit loses Tim Hardaway Jr., and a Fontecchio salary dump trade happens, the Pistons could create $24 million in space to pursue Nickeil Alexander-Walker and other free agents.

HoopsHype

“So I think Pat has done as good of a job as anybody can to be in that position for so long and go through so many generations. Yeah, we all know he’s old. But he’s still sharp as a tool, at the same time. He’s one of the sharpest men that you will sit down and talk to. So he’s very, very good at his job. But also, too, like all of us, he has ways that he wants to see things run and see things done and he’s going to do it that way. But also, too, he’s going to make some adjustments. I think they made a lot of adjustments when Jimmy came, which [LeBron James] didn’t experience and I didn’t experience. The same thing with Tim [Hardaway] and [Alonzo Mourning], we experienced something that they didn’t experience. “What I like to say is you have to stand on something. And the culture is what the Heat stands on. It doesn’t matter whether you feel like the word culture has been overused or not. But every organization doesn’t have it.

Miami Herald

Cade Cunningham knows he’s walking into the unknown, but it’s way more of a waking-up-Christmas-morning anticipation than a sense of dread that washes over him and teammates who’ve never experienced the NBA playoffs as they count down the hours until Game 1 tips off Saturday in New York. “I’ve always picked my vets’ brains since my rookie year,” Cunningham said of leaning on Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr., Malik Beasley, Dennis Schroder and Paul Reed – who take a combined 240 games of playoff experience into the postseason with them – for an idea of what to expect. “There’s been conversations throughout my career, hearing stories about the craziest things that have happened. It’s all good. I think I’ve learned a lot from that, but experience is the greatest teacher. I’m excited to be out there.”

NBA.com

Anthony Chiang: Micky Arison reacts to HOF honor in press release issued by the Heat: “I am deeply honored to be joining Heat greats Alonzo Mourning, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Shaquille O’Neal, Ray Allen, Tim Hardaway, Gary Payton and of course my dear friend Pat Riley in the Basketball Hall of Fame. When my father Ted Arison brought the Heat to Miami almost 40 years ago, he did not do so for accolades. He did it because he thought it was best for Miami. Madeleine, Nick, Kelly and I have been the proud stewards of that vision and are so proud of what the Heat mean both in our community and to fans around the world. For some, this is an individual honor. But for me, this speaks to what our entire Heat family – players, coaches, staff and fans – have built together. “I look forward to enshrinement weekend in September, as well as future enshrinement weekends where more members of our Heat family will enter the Basketball Hall of Fame.”

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Tim Hardaway: I see JJ Redick, and I like what JJ Redick is doing. He’s going in there and saying, ‘Look, if I’m going to get fired, I’m going to get fired doing things my way. I'm not going to get fired running the team the way you all want me to.’ So, he's doing it his way. He feels like he’s got some great, great, great assistant coaches—McMillan, Bob Beyer, and who else? Brooks? Yeah, yeah. I mean, he’s got some really, really good assistant coaches, guys who were head coaches, and he's listening to them, but he’s also implementing his own system. And I want to tell you this—way, way back behind the scenes, he's calling Stan Van Gundy, because that's his boy, that's his guy. I know Stan is giving him a lot of information about what needs to be done and how he needs to do it, so he’s been listening.

YouTube

Tim Hardaway: I tell you this: I think Bol Bol has the same abilities as Victor Wembanyama. I think Bol just hasn’t had the opportunity to show it, for whatever reason. But I see the same athletic ability in Bol that Wemby has. I don’t know if it’s confidence. I don’t know if the team isn’t giving him confidence. I don’t know if people just aren’t giving him the ball. But I tell you this—I’m always in Bol Bol’s corner because I see the potential in him and what he can do. It’s just that I don’t think he’s been given the right opportunity to go out there and prove himself like Victor has. You look at Wemby—he’s 7’5”, shooting one-legged runners from beyond the three-point line. Bol can do that too.

YouTube

Tim Hardaway: Mark Price was a bad motherf*cker. He doesn’t get his just due. Nick Young: But where would he be ranked in this era? Tim Hardaway: There’s a lot of motherf*ckers who couldn’t stay with Mark Price. Mark Price was a fast white guy. He could stop on a dime, shoot in your face, split the double team, knew how to pass the ball, knew how to play the game. Mark Price was a bad motherf*cker. Rod Strickland, another motherf*cker. Kevin Johnson, another motherf*cker. We had some bad motherf*ckers in that era.

YouTube

Tim Hardaway: If I go back and put on my sh*t and suit up, I want to go [expletive] Tyrese Haliburton. I want to go and [expletive] him up. He talks so much sh*t. I want to go back and bust his [expletive] ass. He talk so much sh*t. I want to go back, I want to bust his ass.

YouTube

Tyrese Haliburton: Tell the world the real reason you feel this way, Tim.

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Tim Hardaway: The only thing he wanted you to do was play more games. That’s all he wanted you to do—play more games. “I don’t want to be in the play-in games anymore. I want to be in the playoffs, have a week off, prepare, and be ready for our opponent. We’ll be fresh.” Jimmy didn’t want to do that. Jimmy wanted to keep doing what he always did—taking games off. He wasn’t hurt. He was just taking games off.

YouTube

Tim Hardaway Sr.: “I've been telling folks this for the last week, especially here, I didn't agree with what he was doing. You’re under contract. You’re a cry baby because they said no to you. We used to get said no to us all the time and we used to know how to take it. It is what it is. It's a question. You get a yes or a no. You might not like the question, but you can't deviate and mess up the team.”

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Hardaway Sr.: “I fought them for letting him get away with a bunch of stuff, too. You know, you gotta nip it in the bud. When he went after Spoelstra, told Spoelstra he'd kick his butt at a timeout and they had to take another timeout because Udonis Haslem was circling him around. That should have been like, yo, you getting three to five games. You don't talk to the coach like that. You don't disrespect the coach like that.”

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SiriusXM NBA Radio: "[Jimmy Butler's] a baby. [He's] a crybaby" Heat and Warriors legend Tim Hardaway Sr. had some choice words for Jimmy Butler with @TheFrankIsola and @TermineRadio #HeatCulture

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NBA Communications: Golden State @warriors guard Brandin Podziemski will replace injured Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace on Team T in the 2025 Castrol Rising Stars. Wallace is unable to participate because of a right shoulder strain. Castrol Rising Stars honorary head coaches Tim Hardaway Sr. (Team T), Mitch Richmond (Team M) and Chris Mullin (Team C) previously drafted their teams from the pool of 21 NBA rookies and sophomores who were selected to play. Jeremy Lin is the honorary head coach of the team representing the NBA G League (Team G League). The annual showcase of premier young talent will take place on Friday, Feb. 14 at Chase Center in San Francisco as part of NBA All-Star 2025 (9 p.m. ET, TNT). New this year, the Castrol Rising Stars champion will earn a spot to play in the NBA All-Star Game.

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