Q: Ira, reading all this speculation about Ja Morant, one thing has to be clear: Not a single asset can go out that otherwise could be flipped in a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade. Giannis wasn’t just reacting to the boos in Milwaukee, he was gesturing to the Heat. (P.S., if I’m Pat Riley, I pay fans to go to every Bucks home game before the trading deadline and have them boo Giannis. Give them all Bucks jerseys, so no one notices.) – Art.
A: First, outgoing assets should not factor into a deal for Ja Morant, which at this point looks like it will be settled for pennies on the dollar, as a salary dump. But you do raise the reasonable point of perhaps not even tossing in expiring salaries that can be utilized in a possible trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo. In fact, the truest tell about a potential Heat move for Giannis might be preemptive bids to acquire draft capital. As for hiring Bucks boo birds, there are tickets starting at $38 for Friday’s Milwaukee home game against the Nuggets. So perhaps Nick Arison needs to work that into the Heat’s operating budget.
Q: Ira, Tyler Herro comes back for four games and he’s on the injury report and missing practice? Good lord. – Samuel.
A: As Erik Spoelstra has said about the modern NBA injury report, most of the current listings would not even be announced during previous eras. Such is the influx of daily fantasy and single-game betting propositions. So, basically, if a player makes any type of trip to the trainer’s room, there has to be some form of designation. As for Tyler not practicing Wednesday, the team made it clear it was just a matter of rest after he played more minutes than any player on either side in Tuesday night’s Suns game. The injury report has reached the level of a designation of “available” when one would not even have known there was an issue. Tyler wants to be back, wants to be playing, appreciates that the games off are not a good look, even if ailing.
Q: Hi, Ira. Went to the Heat/Suns game. I have never seen so many no-continuation calls before. I understand trying to get away from the swing-through calls, but there were legitimate continuation plays. I miss the “and-one” calls. Claiming that the shooter was still gathering is a cop-out by the refs. At least, they were consistent. – David, Fort Lauderdale.
A: The problem is that players were attempting to game the system to the degree that they were making any and every shot an and-one possibility. The “throwing of hands” simply was getting out of control. Typically the NBA adjusts based on the big picture. And with a big picture of relentless offense and scoring at the moment, the approach seems to be to limit what some had considered gimmick points.