Even with Dwyane Wade back after his personal leave, the Heat find themselves a little short on backcourt playmakers, as Goran Dragic, Tyler Johnson, and Dion Waiters are all on the shelf due to various injuries. Miami has an open roster spot and could temporarily add a guard on a non-guaranteed contract to provide some depth, but has shown no interest in doing so for the time being.
While the luxury-tax penalties tied to any signing are surely a consideration for the Heat, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel suggests the team’s preference to stick with a 14-man roster for now is more about finding minutes for players who might otherwise be buried in Miami’s deep rotation.
As Winderman points out, adding a veteran point guard could have a domino effect on the rest of the lineup, potentially costing players like Wayne Ellington or even Bam Adebayo some playing time. It remains unclear when the Heat’s guards will return to action, but lengthy absences for Dragic and Johnson seem unlikely, so the club is in no rush to add reinforcements.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- The 6-11 Heat have dropped nine of their last 12 games and the need for a roster shakeup in Miami has “never been more obvious,” writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The Heat will likely contact the Wizards to check in on players like John Wall and Bradley Beal, according to Jackson, who hears that Miami holds Beal in particularly high regard. However, Jackson suggests it’s hard to imagine the Heat putting together an appealing enough package for Beal, and they’d probably only have interest in Wall if they could dump a couple of their own unwanted contracts.
- In a pair of Ask Ira features this week, Winderman dug into the Heat’s decision to sit Kelly Olynyk on Tuesday and explored the likelihood of a trade involving Wayne Ellington.
- Earlier this week, Josh Richardson was fined $25K by the NBA for throwing his shoe into the stands during a loss to the Lakers, according to a press release from the league.
Heat get
John Wall
Markieff Morris
Wizards get
Goran Dragic
Dion Waiters
Justise Winslow
2 lotto protected 1st rounders
Heat get out of the Dragic and Waiters multi year deals. Wizards pick up a ready made replacement for Wall and a decent prospect in Winslow.
Bad Deal! John wall just signed a max deal that kicks in next season! Plus 2 1st round picks! Pass!! Wall is overrated!!
I disagree! I know that! Yes! No!! I disagree!!
If Washington can get any picks at all for Wall, I’d be shocked. His contract is $38 million next year, and damn near $50 million in his last year. The guy is a stretch provision waiting to happen.
A team that thinks Wall can put them over the top will consider his deal, but odds are he’s a Wizard the rest of his career.
Wall’s contract has trade kickers too. He’s almost immovable with his attitude, injury history, and up and down play. No on wants him on that contract.
I don’t know about Wall with that contract, him and Whiteside feels like waiting for something bad to happen.
The Heat probably have the worst contract/situation in the NBA. Man, they have a combination of truly awful contracts. Even the beautiful city of Miami won’t help them out of this mess to find talent.
After this year, they have have multiple expiring contracts they can move in the offseason, or they can play out another year, and let those deals expire. They have all of their 1st round picks except for 2021
Well they’ve got a couple expiring contracts sure, but there still caught in no mans land at least thru next year with too much talent too get top 5 picks but not nearly enough talent to do anything in the playoffs even if they got lucky and make it in. They’re set up awful, and if you compare their situation with any other team in the NBA I’d take the other team over Miami. If you look at the bad teams in the NBA other than Miami at least they’ve got young talent or will be drafting very high. Miami has none of that other than Richardson, who I like but he’s hardly enough to build around.
They lost 3 of the 4 playoff games last year b/c they missed between 11-15 fts a game
Now that James Johnson is finally back, I think things will turn around for the Heat, who have been terrible in 4th quarters, are near the bottom in turnovers, and haven’t played to their identity much this season.
Kelly Olynyk is only a 5 off the bench in the right matchups. He isnt a 4. Stop using him there. Its awful. James Johnson starts at the 4 and plays some 5.
Dragic, Richardson, Mcgruder, James Johnson, Whiteside
Tyler Johnson, Justise Winslow, Wayne Ellington, KO, Wade/Waiters, Bam, Derrick Jones
Wade doesnt have to have a prominent role every night. He can be the 6th man on certain nights, and slide guys down a spot, and on other nights he can back off on minutes a bit, and be available down the stretch of games, and then when Waiters comes back, you figure that out. I’d also say the big rotation will likely change based on opponent, and I’d like to see UD play more, especially in certain matchups, even if it’s for a few minutes.
When Tyler Johnson comes back, he has to get back to what hes been doing recently, and what he did 2 years ago, and lower his 3pt attempt rate and get put in more pick and roll situations, instead of the bigs initiating so much offense through handoffs.
Obviously Dragic being out a few times has hurt, and honestly this whole team is constantly injured. Every time someone comes back, someone is out the same day. It would be nice to see them fully healthy, and when Dragic and Tyler Johnson come back, that’s as close as they can be right now. It’s still early, and everyone is bunched up, with a lot of close games. Anyone can make runs, especially a team capable of defending
…I also wouldnt mind if that 15th man was Carmelo Anthony
God, no. The heat pride themselves on defense (I know it’s down this year), and Carmelo will just be a turnstile.