Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Heat Central: Bobby Portis says him and Giannis playing for the Miami Heat is a ‘match made in heaven’ “It’s not like I’m going to a situation guys aren’t trying to win, we’re gonna tank mid season and get a high draft pick. It’s like a match Made in heaven for me and Giannis tbh because we want to win championships. — what better franchise to do it for than here.” (@AlexMSolana / @1043wqam)
Heat Central: Bobby Portis says going from Milwaukee to the Miami Heat is a breath of fresh air: “It suddenly hit me not playing with Milwaukee no more after playing with them for 6 years, felt like a breath of fresh air coming to an organization that’s all about the right things, that has a winning culture, a winning mentality, that’s what I want to be apart of. I’ve been a winner my whole life so coming to this franchise was a blessing” (@5ReasonsSports / open.spotify.com/episode/4J24cm)
Ira Winderman: Bobby Portis said he dropped 19 pounds this offseason to get into Heat shape. He said the adjustment that remains is dealing with Miami traffic.
Advertisement
Bobby BP Portis: Yo Norm @npowell2404, I always respected ya game from a distance. We in the same draft. Shout out to 2015. Only bout 9 of us left but keep my name out your mouth brother. I ain’t no throw in piece. From champ to champ respectfully king. Be blessed brother.
Was it as simple as once Miami got Giannis, you knew you’d have to pursue other possibilities because of their cap situation? Or did you get a sense even beforehand that you would have to consider other options? Norman Powell: “Honestly, I thought I would be going back to Miami throughout the course of the year. We knew they wanted to get Giannis. We heard some rumblings that ‘Norm, Bam [Adebayo] and Giannis sounds really good.” So I thought that was the path. But when the trade is on the table, that was in the season and I don’t know the talks behind it. I don’t know what Milwaukee’s stance was. But it seemed like they were like, ‘If you want Giannis, you have to take Bobby Portis.’ I think that played a part with the CBA rules and the hard cap with sending out money and receiving money. That put a tough swing on things, in my eyes. But I could be totally wrong.
Norman Powell: They could’ve made moves and done things if they wanted to. Obviously, Wiggs [Andrew Wiggins] would have had to opt out [of his player option] and take less than his $30 [million] and they would have had to move Niko [Nikola Jović]. But teams are going to do what they want. They didn’t make the moves necessary to do so. So it’s about being ahead of the game and seeing how things play out. Khalid and Glu were really on top of giving me the outline of what free agency would look like, who’s available and who’s interested. As the news was coming out with different guys’ contracts and trades, they kept me really informed on what was going to be next, who was on the board and off the board. It wasn’t as cut and dry.”
Anthony Chiang: The Heat has strong interest in veteran guard Klay Thompson. The issue is he’s still under contract with the Mavericks, as he’s due $17.5 million in the final year of his contract. It appears that the Heat will remain patient in filling out the rest of its roster to give Thompson time to possibly shake free through a buyout agreement. While a trade for Thompson is also possible, it would be challenging to pull off considering the only three players on the Heat’s current roster able to be traded for Thompson in a one-for-one deal are Nikola Jovic, Davion Mitchell and Bobby Portis. The cleaner path is for the Mavericks to eventually agree to a buyout with Thompson, with Thompson hypothetically giving up $7 million of his current salary to become a free agent. The Heat can then make up the difference on the money Thompson gave up by using the rest of its midlevel exception to offer him a $7 million salary for this upcoming season.
Advertisement
Heat Central: Bobby Portis says he tried to pay Pelle Larsson for number 9 💀 “One of my teammates has my number. Number 9. He said it was super sentimental to his family and everybody wore number 9. I tried to pay him for it, he still didn’t want the money”
Heat Central: Bobby Portis says he was in Miami when he found out he got traded to the Heat: “Some guys get drafted to their favorite team or guys sign with their favorite team. I haven’t played with my favorite team yet. So getting a chance to get traded to my favorite team was like surreal to me. I was in Miami too when I got traded to Miami. That was fire. — We was outside chillin for like 10-15 minutes. I walk into the house and the GM is calling me. Right when I picked the phone up the whole house start screaming. It was crazy. That whole day I had fans telling me it was going to happen”
Heat Central: Bobby Portis on getting traded with Giannis to the Miami Heat: “It’s fun being able to still play with Giannis. We have a great relationship on and off the court. It’s kind of cool going to a new situation with somebody that you’re super familiar with. I think that’ll make my transition real smooth. — I rock with Gianni. Gianni a good dude. He always showed love to me since day 1. — I remember after we won the chip the first thing he told our GM and owner ‘We gotta sign Bobby back! We gotta sign Bobby back!’”
Klutch Sports Group, led by Rich Paul, thought it would be “super easy” to get the Cavaliers or Warriors to trade for Davis, sources said. Since that’s not the case, the Heat have emerged as the leader to sign James since Miami doesn’t have to trade for Davis. The team already has Antetokounmpo and Adebayo and strong role players in Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell, Bobby Portis and Tim Hardaway Jr.
