OCTOBER 17: McGruder underwent successful surgery to repair his left tibia stress fracture today, the Heat confirmed in a press release. The team has yet to announce a timetable for McGruder’s recovery.
OCTOBER 12: The Heat’s depth on the wing is about to take a hit, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical, who reports (via Twitter) that swingman Rodney McGruder is expected to undergo surgery on a stress fracture in his leg. The procedure would likely sideline him for three to six months, league sources tell Charania.
McGruder, 26, enjoyed a productive rookie season with the Heat in 2016/17, finding his way into the starting lineup for 65 of his 78 games. For the season, he averaged 6.4 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 1.6 APG in 25.2 minutes per contest.
Heading into the 2017/18 season, McGruder had been competing for a spot in the Heat’s starting lineup, with Josh Richardson and Justise Winslow among the other options the club had been considering at small forward. With McGruder reportedly set to miss a significant portion of the season, Richardson looks like the favorite to step into that starting role.
Currently, only about $453K of McGruder’s minimum salary is guaranteed, but he shouldn’t be in danger of losing his roster spot. Even in the unlikely event that the Heat were to waive him, the team would be on the hook for his full salary until he receives medical clearance.
Nooooooooo!! c’mon man. Why? We just needed to stay healthy. So incredibly frustrating…ruined my whole week, at least. Literally one of the worst people that could have got hurt. He was our best conditioned player, and he clearly improved significantly offensively. He seemed automatic from 3 so far too, and then defensively, he is so important, and in combination with Tyler Johnson , Richardson, Winslow, and JJ, they’re an incredible group of disruptive, athletic, and lengthy defenders….why did this have to happen now
And you feel bad for him specifically b/c this dude has worked so hard to get to this position, and he earned his spot. Hopefully, he comes back at some point this year, but that doesn’t seem likely. Not much info out there yet.
In the meantime, we’re going to need Winslow, Okaro, and JJ to knock down shots and play well out of position at the 3 behind Richardson, who obviously jumps into the starting lineup. The rotations with Winslow at the 3, and JJ at the 4 haven’t looked great offensively in my opinion, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out. I’d also assume this brings Olynyk into the starting lineup, moving JJ back to the bench b/c Olynyk does other things offensively without the ball, including obviously spacing the floor, and adding Richardson to that 1st unit takes away most of those touches…i would assume that Spo will have to stagger minutes in some areas to get the right balance on the floor, but this injury is really significant.
Mcgruder ranks about 8th in most things. It’s a depth loss but the Heat has more of it.
They don’t have anyone at the 3, besides Richardson, that can play both sides of the ball, and McGruder also brings out everyone else’s competitiveness with his grit. He’s like a wing UD
So upsetting. This means Justice Winslow gotta step up.
This sucks. Richardson will have more chance of a break out tho.