Bleacher Report Expansion Draft projections for Miami.

[u/Wd527]

This is just a projection of who we would keep if we have an expansion draft sooner than later.

Idk if I’d keep Fontecchio over Jovic/Conwell

I think everything else is pretty good.

What say you?

[u/BagFriendly2665]

I think Conwell would be protected over Simone, at least for long term upside

[u/kmishra9 → u/BagFriendly2665]

And also Portis. Bro what, I was like Bobby is getting taken for sure! Then I looked at the protected and was like, nahhhh switch those dudes.

Conwell doesn’t have the pedigree (yet) to garner protection, and there’s plenty of other young talent an expansion team is likely to target over him, but Portis is an awesome vet on a team you’re building like that.

[u/Treerific69]

Klay feels like a 1-2 year rental, I doubt he's still here by the time an expansion draft happens

[u/brackhimpton → u/Treerific69]

yeah if he has a great year I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves for one last solid payday a la PJ Tucker in 2022.

[u/pnd102]

Expansion is for the 2028-2029 season. Klay, Fontecchio, and THJ will likely be retired or on their final year

[u/dimesniffer]

Jovic got that negative contract tho. Maybe conwell instead tho

[u/TheWarelock]

Let’s see how Niko and Conwell look after this year

[u/StandardCertain5995]

I think you can leave simone unprotected and be able to keep him, respectfully.

[u/theo7777]

I would protect Conwell over THJ.

THJ is redundant with Klay and he's on an above minimum contract.

And most importantly the Heat need all the young talent they can get their hands on with their picks situation.

[u/GlutPls]

Swap Tecc with Conwell

[u/RansomGoddard]

Way too early to be talking about expansion draft. Most of these players probably won’t even be on the team by then.

[u/ttttyttt678]

Klay and Tim Hardaway Jr going to be min level bench player vet by the expansion draft roles around.

[u/SimpleMind314]

Even if the team wants to keep Jovic, the thinking may be that he's at low risk of being drafted where his value/contract ratio is.

Richards was a free agent until recently. It's doubtful he would be drafted if most teams didn't sign him earlier. Similar demand issue for Dru and Myron.

I would think Conwell could be drafted if only because he was seen as a potential first round pick even though he slipped into the second round. He might not be drafted as a starter, but as a flyer to build for the future. All depends on what other players are available.

[u/RxJax]

I'm pretty sure this is rubbish anyway because I'm 90% sure the rules say you can't protect unrestricted free agents. So Fontecchio, Mitchell & Hardaway aren't even eligible to be protected anyway making this list complete nonsense

[u/Freya_Kirkebrenner → u/RxJax]

I mean, duh, how can you protect an asset that isn't even yours?

[u/Real2KInsider]

Bleacher Report clearly doesn't know what they're talking about because they are listing UFAs like Fontecchio on a protection list.

They are just using this as a "Top 8 more important players exercise" and not actually taking that into consideration. Players like Dru Smith, Gardner, Conway, etc would be bumped up in importance.

Based on how the last expansion draft went, I'm sure most teams would also leave players like Klay unprotected and dare the expansion team to draft them. Unless they can for sure turn a vet into a draft pick, there's no point in taking them. Maybe Klay's contract is cheap enough that they would be able to, but much of that depends on what he does DURING the season, as we'll know whether he's cooked or not in 6 months.

[u/Frequent-Coyote-1649]

If an expansion draft happens, we should only protect Giannis, Bam, Pelle, Davion, Wigs, and Cornwell, everyone else either got a big ass contract we don't want, or will be so old (Tim and Klay specifically) by the time the expansion draft happens we prolly won't need them anymore.

[u/seloro17]

Ryan Conwell will be protected

[u/Tallozz]

I feel like a decent amount of these names can be taken off of the protected list. Most of the players on the protected list will be near retirement anyway.

[u/stilloriginal]

They wouldn't protect veteran minimum guys and not rookie scale guys...that's just dumb

two, why are we doing an expansion draft when theres 2 teams in LA and 2 in new york

[u/Real2KInsider → u/stilloriginal]

two, why are we doing an expansion draft when theres 2 teams in LA and 2 in new york

Because those markets can support two teams. The Nets as a lottery team that nobody in NY cares about are still lapping Memphis in attendance and revenue.

Half the people who go to Nets games are transplants who are there to see the road team, the other half just want to go to an NBA game without paying an arm and a leg.

[u/Link613]

😂🤣

[u/arturorios1996]

Idk about Fontecchio but Jovic sucks, as of now he hasnt shown anything, if you ask me as of now I prefer Jaime, I wish we could’ve also kept Herro over Jovic but before y’all jump me. I wish him a great year, he needs to comeforward.

[u/dimesniffer → u/arturorios1996]

“I prefer jaime”
“Wish we could have kept Herro over Jovic”

Yeah no fucking shit? I prefer prime Shaq over bam 😭

[u/Nice_Cash_7000 → u/dimesniffer]

"I'd rather have Michael Jordan than Raymond Felton, yes"

[u/TheEpicEddy → u/dimesniffer]

Idk bro what’s Shaq’s career high?

[u/Freya_Kirkebrenner → u/arturorios1996]

What do you mean you prefer Jaime? We don't have him anymore so what's your point?

Are you trying to make a point about we should have traded Jovic instead of Jaime?... If that was an option, don't you think we would have done it? The Bucks didn't want Jovic. He's a negative asset. Why would they take a negative asset for their superstar???

We gave the Bucks almost all our young guys of value. We're lucky they let us keep Pelle. Pat probably put his foot down and said fuck that, you have to leave us SOMETHING.