The Heat announced on Wednesday (via Twitter) that injured guards Goran Dragic and Derrick Jones were full participants in practice and traveled with the team to Philadelphia for tonight’s game against the 76ers.
While Dragic and Jones have been cleared to return to action, head coach Erik Spoelstra said the duo may still need “a little more work” (Twitter link). Spoelstra is “not necessarily” planning on having both players return to the court in Philadelphia, he added today (Twitter link via Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel).
Whether or not Dragic and Jones earn minutes tonight, it’s great news for the Heat that both players are ready to return — Jones was originally expected to be sidelined until at least March. Still, after trading Tyler Johnson and Wayne Ellington at the deadline two weeks ago, Miami will once again have to sort out a crowded backcourt rotation.
Dragic and Jones will be vying for minutes with Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow, Dion Waiters, Rodney McGruder, and Dwyane Wade. Winslow has been effective as the Heat’s de facto point guard in Dragic’s absence, and Dragic indicated that he’d be happy to play off the ball if the club wants to keep the ball in Winslow’s hands, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Over the All-Star break, Barry Jackson spoke to a pair of veteran NBA scouts who are both bearish on the Heat’s long-term outlook. “They have really screwed it up,” a Western Conference scout said. “They are in this mess by themselves, have only themselves to blame. They got deluded by one year of performance, fell much too in love with their own players. They have five bad contracts – James Johnson, (Hassan) Whiteside, Waiters, Kelly Olynyk and now Ryan Anderson. Their whole team is just a bunch of other guys. They have too many mediocre players.”
- Appearing at his final All-Star Game in Charlotte this past weekend, Dwyane Wade noted one reason why he’s not regretting his decision to retire at season’s end, as Nick Friedell of ESPN.com details. “The game is in good hands,” Wade said. “So it’s easy to walk away right now.”
- Rookie forward Emanuel Terry was working out at the University of Miami this week as part of Team USA’s training camp when he found out that the Heat wanted to sign him to a 10-day contract, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “Very last drill I did … I was walking back to my chair and (Heat assistant GM) Adam (Simon) stopped me,” said Terry, who had been prepared to participate in this week’s World Cup qualifiers. “He asked me how I was doing, I told him, ‘Well.’ I asked him how he was doing and he said, ‘We called you up.’ I couldn’t stop smiling, really for at least 10 minutes, and then I kind of told everyone, well, everyone approached me, and I kind of went on about my day.”
So the Heat have Winslow and Richardson to build with. I have my questions about Bam, he hasn’t produced enough and has been given minutes. They have no identity at all, the offense was good being ran through Winslow and now with Dragic coming back it won’t be. Dragic has underperformed his contract also.
If not for injuries and terrible free throw shooting, this team would be a lot better the last couple of years, and a couple of those contracts would be more movable, as they were intended to be when they were signed. I dont understand the Tyler johnson trade. I feel like they had a lot of expiring money to work with in the offseason. Tyler Johnson is a rotation player. Ryan Anderson is dead money, so I dont get how he is more movable than Tyler would be in the offseason. I also think there is a heat bias out there the last several years, by the media, and I also think other organizations specifically ask more from Riley than maybe other teams, but that’s a different story altogether
…and I wasnt going to mention it, but since Dion Waiters did, I’ll reiterate it. The heat also get ridiculously disrespected by the refs. I would say in the league right now the most disrespected people by the officials are whoever plays against James Harden, the Heat, GS, and Lebron. Look at the numbers. The Heat have multiple guys among leaders in drives and getting in the paint, and they are by far lower than everyone else in getting to the line. Dragic had a stretch this year where he drove 200 times and only got like 3 foul calls. That’s a joke. But, again, I didn’t mention it before b/c other than those numbers, you cant quantify it exactly. Still, health and free throw percentage, and Hassan Whiteside’s unwillingness to be a team player are the biggest reasons they arent a legit top 4-5 team in the East. Their record against the West is good, and they are one of the best road teams. Lack of star power matters, but it isn’t the reason they arent where they could be
Maybe refs suppose Miami likes it rough. IDK, Riley always liked to see what he could get away with, but he’s not coaching.
In the last year or two they have had an awkward flow when I have seen them, I think somewhat on purpose, to be scarier on defense, disconcerting, but that could affect the refs too.
And it takes such high energy to make that system work.
Also look at the Heats numbers when Winslow, Richardson, Bam, and Derrick Jones are on the floor. Those numbers are extremely encouraging in thinking they arent that far away
That quarter aren’t that far and away from what? Leading the Heat to a 6th or 5th or even (far fetched)4th seed?
Like the scout said “they(Andy and Pat) really screwed up “
Truly sad
Quartet*
Heat are once again a top 4 defense this year