After arguably the best year of his career with the Miami Heat, Norman Powell is headed to the Windy City.
The one-time All-Star signed a two-year, $45 million deal with the Chicago Bulls, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania first reported Wednesday morning.
Despite his body breaking down in the second half of the season, Powell, 33, averaged 21.7 points with Miami last year. He shot 47.0 percent from the floor, 38.0 percent from 3-point range and 82.7 percent from the free-throw line. His self-creation and multi-level scoring proved to be important in Tyler Herro’s continued absence, leading the charge for an offense that finished just outside the top-10 in offensive efficiency.
The deal will not include a sign-and-trade since it’s only a two-year deal. Contracts that are sign-and-traded must be either three or four seasons, although only the first year needs to be fully guaranteed.
The Bulls are also planning to absorb Powell (and free agent Zach Collins) into the rest of their cap space, opening up the $9.4 million room exception. Thus, assuming he signed for three years, at that figure, they never needed to negotiate a sign-and-trade.
What’s next for the Miami Heat?
In recent days, the calculus for re-signing Powell — despite mutual interest — became more arduous. The Heat would’ve needed to negotiate a more palatable cap hit for Andrew Wiggins while also moving off Nikola Jovic’s $16 million salary that still exists on their books.
After using $6.5 million of its mid-level exception to sign Tim Hardaway Jr., they have roughly $10 million in space below the hard cap with 12 players rostered. That includes Ryan Conwell, who has yet to sign his standard contract (expected first-year salary of $1-1.5MM). They still have part of their mid-level exception before being restricted to only minimums.
Miami still has a hole in the frontcourt behind Bam Adebayo. Bobby Portis helps alleviate some of that burden, but an extra backup big man would do justice. Hardaway’s addition notwithstanding, the Heat also need more shooting and shot creation after Powell’s departure. It’s unreasonable to expect Hardaway to replicate his career year in his age-35 season.
The Heat have very little flexibility. But we’ll see whether or not more money is maneuvered to provide more flexibility in the coming days.
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BROWN TO SIXERS!!!
bostons toast for pg0 wow .brown maxey edge injured joel think were little better unless joel stays healthy
not one guy signed today moves the needle very much.waiting on needle mover goat.wherever he goes that team will be much better
One of the greatest names in sports is being waived – Leaky Black.
conley to cs he might start.cant wait for dav to give him many off nights
Conley isn’t that good. The C’s seem to be coming back to the pack.
hes olld 30 schmid/markstrom any good
I’m happy with the moves. Thank you Bob for three unbelievable years. But, time to say goodbye. In Zito we trust.
yeah he was great in the playoffs ty bob
Dude is over the hill. 20th season and turns 39 in October. Last season’s line:
4.5/1.7/2.9 33.8% FG and 32.9% 3 point.
Sexton to Lakers two years at $19.
dam lakers getting lots newbies.gonna have diff playin look
The Lakers are going to test some of our theories with some very fine players. If it can ever happen, that’s a fully integrated team can compete for a title, that’s the scenario it will. I expect the Lakers, barring serious injury concerns, to be better than play-in. How much better, I can’t tell.
Grimes for year for $60. More than I expected. We had no shot. lol
He was signed before Simons. Just putting that out there.
yup u know sports 2q
Mitchell Robinson to Celtics. Good move for them and weakens Knicks.
old news lol
Apologies I overlooked your post. I figured it was you trashing a Heat or former Heat player. 😛
love my heat 2 wayers one wayers one way out
Hardaway?
meh no big deal
mediocre 2wayer
better than a one wayer (herro unc)
I beg to differ with you.
Duncan Robinson has a marginally better career defensive rating at 114.5, compared to Tim Hardaway Jr.’s career defensive rating of 115.2. In basketball, a lower defensive rating indicates a better capacity for limiting points allowed, though both players are generally viewed as defensive liabilities within their team schemes.
lebron stop with that sht u cant measure114.5 115.2 watch the tv screen pls.u can tbe worse than uncan just cant sorry
Sorry, not true. Poor? Yes. Can’t be worse? Typical exaggeration and not true.
whos worse come on who impossible impossible
I provided the answer last year. Not doing so again.
Flip a coin. Hardaway (age 34) is 2 years old.
Sorry to confuse you with the facts. It won’t happen again (j/k).
Hack a Mitch any time he is playing and Celtics are in bonus.
off rebound maniac
Can’t shoot a lick. Can’t use him at crunch time/at end of quarters when Knicks in bonus. This guy’s free throw shooting makes Shaq look like Steph Curry. Jus sayin.
true but he helps more than hurts
So does yanking infected teeth.
id say hes the best offensive rebounder in nba.that alone will get u $$$.plus hes huge
If he could shoot a free throw I would agree. However, dude has shot over 50% free throws only once in past 6 years.
mamu to lake show.the new vanilla fudge team
future champs.
playin team out west
Brothers are already shaking. Mighty vanilla team will take over the league.
luka reaves vill kessler who iam i missing dont they have a ravino sounding name .pats jealous
Heat shipped outf 2 whitesides and a Latino to Milwaukee. So there’s that.
I don’t have to talk about it anymore. I am now, like so many others, above the fray.
Maybe, maybe not. I will be following what the Lakers do this season. I don’t think they will win a championship, but they will be in the playoffs as long as Luka stays healthy.
One of 10 strong teams in the west besides OKC and SA…. any of them could finished 13th or 3th.
I’ll be fascinated too. I hope they do well. No question Luka is an A+ player and Reaves an A player. They are both all star level. And Kessler must have some specific skills that are coveted because everyone says good stuff about him.
24 years old. 7’2”, 245. Last season 14.4/10.8/3.0 with an insane 70.3 fg%. Cam Carr might be very good. Plus Sexton, Sandro, Grimes. Should be interesting.
He should help Lakers a lot.
good.
If it was the other way around, I bet some folks around here would be talking about it until the cows come home.
Although some consider Hardaway Jr. good and Duncan Robinson bad, Robinson is slightly better defender and has a 39.5% career 3 point average vs. Hardaway Jr.s 36.5% 3 point average.
Its all in how you spin it. I prefer not to spin it all. However, being a child of the 60’s, I find it hard to keep quiet when it is so blatant, either way.
Yup, now that everything is hunky dory (Bowie), we’re supposed to forget all that came before.
Well, I hope we all forgive each other someday.
Absolutely! Grudge holding doomed my marriage. It’s a waste of energy. Amongst the great things about my relationship now is when we get pissed off at each other, by the next conversation, we’ve moved on.
Yes, second spouses do get a better version than the exes. And it works equivalently across the gender divide.
You obviously learned from your past mistakes. So did I. Third one was the charm for me…42 years ago. I don’t hold grudges, at least not about sports.
gonna miss my bros not really.jjj little bit ware bro alot,theres more in that 7ft body than meets the eye.if he blows up and becomes all star spos gonna look bad
Because Riley will be retired?
mitch rob to celts 3 years 47 mil that helps boston hurts knicks bad good news
lebron supposedly likes golf advantage miami,
can u imagine lebron joining jokic wow that be aot of fun
powell one and done thanks for nothing .beware chi he will look like d wade for first half of season second half he looks like d wade of cleve
Don’t be ungrateful. Heat got more than their money’s worth. What was he supposed to do, take the vet minimum for the privilege of playing in Miami?
15 mil mle?or were we silvered aproned
No mas $15 mil.
he did nothing here played like nikoish last part of season thanks for nothing
kessler to lake show.still a playin team i believe.
Better than you think. More of a reason for Bron to come back east.
im thinking we have a chance.depends on how goat feels about pat everything else checks the boxes
One thing for sure, “How Ya Gonna Keep Him Down on the Farm (After He’s Seen Paree)?” After living in Brentwood all these years he sure as hell aint going back to Cleveland.
He also owns properties in Beverly Hills.and is currently in the process of constructing two separate mega-mansions on one of his properties.
So that leaves San Francisco or Miami. 50-50 not bad odds.
Yup. Playoff team.
Good luck.. he deserves this. Heat cant keep him ,so thats that.
So there is a rooster of
Giannis
Bam,
Wiggins
THJ
Mitchell
Pelle
Portis
Simone
Jovic
Dru
Gardner
Conwell
Starting lineup seems quite good and complete with enough defence, but might be a bit too dependable on Wiggins and TJ shooting. The first is not an elite shooter from distance, the other is an elite, but too streaky.
Second unit is more of concern. There must be Jovic playing center, to keep Portis at his natural position of power forward, and Simone as small forward, which is ok, but it takes Pelle playing shooting guard, which is not exactly what he is. Dru must be good enough to lead second unit.
So assuming Niko can holds his own at center, Pelle adjust to SG role, Dru improve his game, we have consistent second unit. Not very likely, but one can dream.
But this team is highly vulnerable. One or two players out and there success depend on rookie and former G-league player. With 3 or 4 players out there is 7-8 man rotation. No team can survive that in regular season.
We need at least two players. Vincent could be one of those players. The other one should be big or LBJ.
You ended it with the answer. It’s gonna be LBJ! 😉
Good post
Niko isn’t a center, so get that idea out of your head, I would trust Portis more to handle those duties. Also still have vlad, so time for him to show us something, unless we can get another big.
problem with niko what is he?
Idk 🤷♂️ cuz his 3 ball fell off, maybe sf
Point forward. Spo tried to transform him into a PF/C because Riley failed to bring one in to rotate with Bam and Ware. If Jovic is going to make it in the NBA, it will be as a SF.
I know, but he is not power forward eitherm and portis is not a center. Vlad is not an NBA level player.
Ugh we need another big 😫
I disagree about Portis. Not a true center, but can hold his own there. This is from 2 different sources:
“he is primarily listed as a power forward, but he regularly rotates to play center depending on his team’s situational matchups and lineup depth. “
If Portis isn’t a Center, then neither is Bam. But they have had him playing that position his whole career.
Correctamundo!
portis is as big as bam little heavier perf pf body just like bam
second team cant be that vagi.jovic dru simone lol
like it or not, thats all we have.
That’s what happens when you bring in a ss. Part of the deal.
Niko is not a center. And they certainly wouldn’t play Niko at C just to keep Bobby Portis at his “natural position”. Portis is 6’9″, 240 with a 7’2″ wingspan. He absolutely can hold his own at C and that is precisely what he did in Milwaukee next to Giannis and Brook Lopez/Myles Turner. I’d much rather have him as our backup big then trying to throw Niko out there.
And it’s not like we are going to be subbing in a 5-man reserve unit. When everyone is healthy, there will probably be some combination of Giannis, Bam, and Portis on the floor at all times. Mayyybe with Simone or Niko playing some spot minutes at 4 next to Giannis or Bam given the matchups. But I’d rather have those two filling the role that JJJ played last season as the backup 3.
I agree. No way is Jovic a center. He struggled and was bullied there. Even pf is borderline. He’s more suited for sf.
True. Wiggins, Pelle, Simone already playing that better then him.
I know he is not a center and he cant play a center, but he played that last year, because there was nobody else. The situation is just a bit better this season.
Portis is a prototype of power forward, playing him out of his position would hurt the team. So you play better players their positions, and use others for filling holes.
Still I hope there is another vet center coming in.
Bam and Portis are both PFs playing out of position as Cs.
The first bit of bad news since the Giannis signing. It was inevitable due to our money situation, but no playing this down, we will miss Norm. And we need someone with a similar skill set to replace him. It may not happen this year but there is still some hope. I keep thinking Beal. Perhaps the Heat will work him out and evaluate him before moving forward. They need someone who can slash and hit threes, and hopefully play good defense too. Not going to be easy to find for 10 mill.
I fully expected this and am happy for Norm and happy for the Heat. I think that contract will prove to be a wee bit rich for what he will eventually provide. I’m not certain he makes it to the play-in game 😉
I don’t think we’re going to make many, or any, moves until the Lebron thing goes down. I actually think we have a very legit chance if you listen to the stuff Rich Paul has been saying. Believe!
losing ware jjj bad news getting greek great great news