Heat Notes: McRoberts, Winslow, Beasley, Whiteside

Josh McRoberts will almost certainly choose not to opt out of his contract after suffering a foot injury this week, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. A stress fracture was discovered Tuesday in McRoberts’ left foot that will keep him off the court indefinitely. That virtually eliminates any chance he will hit the open market and try to improve on the more than $6MM the Heat owe him for next season. With McRoberts’ salary on its cap, Miami will have about $40MM in space this summer if Dion Waiters and Willie Reed both opt out as expected.

There’s more news today out of Miami:

• The Heat are concerned that Justise Winslow‘s shooting problems will prevent him from ever becoming a great player, Jackson notes in the same story. Winslow ranks last in shooting percentage among the 85 players averaging at least 30 minutes per game, connecting on just 35.2% of his shots from the field and just 20% from 3-point range. “It’s tough,” Winslow said after going 0 for 9 in Thursday’s loss to the Hornets. “I try to rebound, defend. You have to find other ways to make an impact. Just one of those nights.” Miami has already picked up Winslow’s option for 2017/18 and will give the 10th pick of the 2015 draft plenty of time to work out his shooting woes.
• The Heat continue to be haunted by their decision to take Michael Beasley ahead of Russell Westbrook in the 2008 draft, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel. Beasley lasted just two seasons in Miami before being traded to Minnesota for cash and two second-round picks. Grizzlies coach David Fizdale, a former assistant with the Heat, said there were plenty of warning signs before the draft. “I’ll never forget the year they were drafted,” he said. “Not to call out Bease, but we had to drag Bease out of the bed in Vegas to get him to the gym to work out. And Russell Westbrook had already been in that same gym for two hours, full sweat. And [Miami coach Erik Spoelstra] asked Bease, ‘Where you been?’ And it was like, ‘Oh, man, is this how this kid really is? And [Westbrook] went a whole other hour going at the speed that you see him play.”
• Heat center Hassan Whiteside, who signed a four-year, $98MM deal over the summer, tells Winderman in a separate story that he doesn’t worry about trying to live up to that contract. “No different than before,” Whiteside said. “The pressure of being cut when I first got here on a non-guaranteed [contract] was a little more pressure than it is now for me.”