When veteran guard Mario Chalmers received a call about signing a 10-day hardship contract with the Heat, the two-time champion found it hard to believe, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.
The Heat weren’t in touch with Chalmers and his agents throughout the week. Rather, the opportunity for Chalmers came quickly on Thursday afternoon, a deal he accepted without giving much second thought. The team also badly needed players as it dealt with a sudden COVID-19 outbreak.
“I’m not going to lie. My immediate reaction is I didn’t believe it,” Chalmers admitted. “I thought my agent was playing with me.”
Here are some other notes out of Miami tonight:
- New Heat guard Kyle Guy praised the team’s system and history of developing players, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. Miami also gave a 10-day contract to Guy, who recorded an impressive 17 points, four rebounds and three steals off the bench against Houston on Friday. He shot 6-of-8 from the floor and 4-of-6 from three-point range in the contest.
- In a separate article for the Sun Sentinel, Winderman examines whether Guy’s strong first impression may prompt the Heat may reconsider their depth chart. At full strength, Miami has a second unit consisting of Victor Oladipo, Tyler Herro, Max Strus, Markieff Morris and Dewayne Dedmon, along with impressive third-stringers Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin and Omer Yurtseven.
- Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald explores why a reunion between the team and Goran Dragic is unlikely this season. Dragic is currently away from the Raptors and was recently seen working out at Miami’s facility, but the Heat are ineligible to reacquire him unless he’s traded to another team. Miami can’t acquire him in a trade with the Raptors or sign him if Toronto releases him.
K Guys a nice piece and I hope there’s a way to keep him around but how about the Big Yurt! Clearly an elite rebounder he is getting comfortable scoring around the rim now and he can shoot. I personally like the idea of Bam playing the 4 giving him a little more flexibility to use all his skills and if he and Yurt play together they will be a defensive force in the paint.
Agree Yurt and Caleb Martin looked like amazing pick ups for free at the start of the year and have continued to do well.
I thought Miami would struggle to rely on Straus, Vincent, and others and with Oladipo out they would be lucky to get the 6th seed.
However their second unit has been nice.
Perfect spot for K Guy to end up on. Hopefully he can hang around longer and continue to improve