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Heat Notes: Draft, Dragic, Conditioning

December 27th, 2016 at 2:45pm CST by Luke Adams

The Heat announced earlier on Tuesday that Josh McRoberts will be out indefinitely due to a stress fracture in his left foot. However, that’s not the only item out of Miami worth passing along today. Here are a few more Heat-related notes to round up:

  • As our reverse NBA standings show, the Heat’s record currently sits at 10-21, putting the team in a tie for the fifth-worst mark in the NBA, and setting the franchise up for a high draft pick in what projects to be a strong draft class. With that in mind, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald takes a closer look at some of the guard and forward prospects that the team may be targeting in the 2017 draft.
  • If the Heat are taking the long view in their retooling process, the fact that Goran Dragic will be 31 heading into next season should be taken into consideration, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Given all the promising point guards expected to be available in the draft, Winderman thinks it makes sense for Miami to wait until June to make a decision on the position.
  • Pat Riley and the Heat have placed a strong emphasis on fitness and conditioning, and it’s having an impact even on players who sign one-year free agent contracts with the club and don’t necessarily expect a long-term stay. Winderman has the details in a piece for The Sun Sentinel.
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Josh McRoberts Out Indefinitely With Foot Injury

December 27th, 2016 at 12:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The Heat may get two injured players back tonight, with both Wayne Ellington and Rodney McGruder aiming to return to the court against the Thunder. However, the team will be missing another rotation player, having announced today (via Twitter) that Josh McRoberts will be out indefinitely due a stress fracture in his left foot.

McRoberts, who will turn 30 in February, first fractured his left foot in last season’s playoffs, and had his debut this season delayed as he recovered from a stress reaction. It’s not clear if he has re-injured that same foot, or if he’s simply still dealing with the effects of that old injury. Either way, there’s no timetable for his return at this time.

In 22 games (14 starts) for the Heat this year, McRoberts has averaged just 4.9 PPG, 3.4 RPG, and 2.3 APG, and continues to struggle with his shot. After shooting a career-worst 37.2% from the field in 2015/16, McRoberts is at 37.6% this season, though he has made 41.9% of his three-pointers.

McRoberts has been viewed as one of many potential trade candidates on Miami’s roster, but he didn’t have a ton of trade value when he was on the court, and if he’s sidelined for an extended period, his value will only diminish further. As Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel writes, the Heat tried unsuccessfully to move McRoberts during 2016’s free agent period. The veteran forward is making $5.782MM in 2016/17, and has a $6MM+ player option on his deal for next year.

The Heat, who have been without Chris Bosh all year due to health concerns, have seen several other players miss time with injuries. Miami appeared to be on the verge of getting healthy with Ellington and McGruder on the way back, but McRoberts will now join Dion Waiters on the team’s list of injured players.

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Waiters May Find Playing Time Limited; Could White Be In Team's Future?

December 26th, 2016 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill
  • Heat guard Dion Waiters may find his playing time limited when he returns from a groin injury, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Waiters’ isolation game was useful when the team was shorthanded, but Winderman states that ball movement is now being emphasized and the development of Justise Winslow, Josh Richardson and Tyler Johnson at the wing spots is key to the team’s future. Waiters is considered very likely to opt out of the second season of his contract, and Winderman believes Miami may trade him before he can make that decision.
  • The Heat should consider unloading Luke Babbitt or Derrick Williams to make room for a younger prospect at power forward, Winderman suggests in the same piece. One possibility is Okaro White, who was cut by Miami in training camp and currently plays for the team’s D-League affiliate in Sioux Falls.
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Magic May Try To Trade Vucevic, Payton

December 24th, 2016 at 5:38pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Magic would like to find a taker for center Nikola Vucevic, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Appearing on a podcast with Zach Lowe, Windhorst said Orlando is hoping to make major changes that may also include point guard Elfrid Payton.

After trading for power forward Serge Ibaka over the summer and signing center Bismack Biyombo, the Magic are off to a disappointing 14-18 start. Coach Frank Vogel made some lineup changes last month that included sending Vucevic to the bench. Vucevic, who protested the demotion, is now averaging 27.8 minutes per night, the fewest in his five years in Orlando. His scoring has dropped dramatically, from 18.2 points per game a year ago to 12.8 this season.

Vucevic signed a four-year extension in 2014 and still has two more seasons and $25MM left on his contract.

The Magic are also “down” on Payton, Windhorst adds. The third-year point guard lost his starting job to D.J. Augustin in the November shakeup. Payton is still on his rookie contract and is under team control through the 2017/18 season.

Windhorst says Payton caused a lot of friction between the Orlando front office, which traded two first-round picks to acquire him, and former coach Scott Skiles, who didn’t believe he was good enough to play. The reporter adds that the Magic could be a potential destination for Goran Dragic if the Heat decide to move him.

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McRoberts' Player Option Hurts Value; Dragic Happy In Miami

December 24th, 2016 at 8:47am CST by Austin Kent
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Goran Dragic Open To Being Traded?

December 23rd, 2016 at 1:58pm CST by ChrisCrouse

DECEMBER 23, 1:58pm: Asked about the report that he’s open to being moved, Dragic told reporters that it didn’t come from him, and that it’s not true (video link).

DECEMBER 22, 4:00pm: Rival teams have called the Heat about Goran Dragic‘s availability and found that Miami is open to dealing the point guard, sources tell Chris Mannix of The Vertical. Mannix adds that Dragic is also open to being moved. Minnesota is a team to keep an eye on regarding a potential Dragic trade, Zach Lowe of ESPN.com speculates in his latest podcast.

Two seasons ago, the Heat acquired Dragic believing that he was the missing piece needed in order to compete with the Cavs for the Eastern Conference crown. Since then, the team lost Chris Bosh because of his health issues and it lost Dwyane Wade to the Bulls in free agency, which left Dragic to lead a roster of young, unproven players. Mannix argues that if the Heat are going to rebuild around their young core, the team would be better off trading the point guard.

Earlier in the week, Pat Riley said that any rebuild would happen quickly. “We’ve [rebuilt] twice, first with the addition of Shaq back in 2005, then again in 2008,” Riley said. “And we’re in it again. In this league, you need flexibility. And we have that, so we’re able to make a move quickly. We’ve rebuilt before and we’re going to do it again quickly.”

The Heat, owning a record of 9-20, are in the midst of a disappointing campaign, though Dragic has been a bright spot for them. He’s averaging 19.1 points and 6.7 assists per game while shooting 41.6% from behind the arc. He owns a player efficiency rating of 18.2, which is well above the league average of 15.0.

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Deng Didn't Believe Heat Made Him A Priority

December 22nd, 2016 at 10:32am CST by ChrisCrouse
  • The Heat thought they had a chance to re-sign Deng this summer, but they couldn’t compete with the Lakers’ offer, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News writes. “We thought there was a chance we would get him at a way smaller number,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “There was that discussion that he wanted to come back and we wanted him to come back. But we obviously weren’t in a position to make that kind of deal.”
  • Deng said he wanted to re-sign with the Heat if he didn’t receive the offer from Los Angeles, but he believes the team wasn’t going to make bringing him back a priority, Medina relays in the same piece. “It’s not like I would’ve gone there,” Deng said. “They probably would have had the money and gotten someone else better.”
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NBA Sets Up Panel For Life-And-Death Cases

December 21st, 2016 at 8:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement will include an independent medical panel to handle potential life-and-death cases like the one involving Chris Bosh, writes Howard Beck of Bleacher Report.

Bosh’s dispute with the Heat is problematic because the league has no uniform policy regarding blood clots and no process to adjudicate medical disputes where a player’s life may be in jeopardy.

According to Beck, when a player is declared medically unfit, his case can be brought before the panel by his team, the league or the players association. The panel will have the power to prevent him from playing in the NBA if it decides his condition is life-threatening.

However, if the panel sides with the player, it could give his team a deadline to either play him, trade him or waive him. All decisions of the panel will be considered final, with no appeal process set up.

The panel was established to prevent other players from falling into a situation like Bosh, whose career has been in limbo since failing a physical before training camp. Bosh hasn’t played since the All-Star break last season, when doctors discovered blood clots in his calf. It was the second straight season for Bosh that was cut short by blood clots.

Bosh had hoped to resume his career this season, and posted a series of videos on his website during the summer to demonstrate his health. However, “evidence of continued clotting” was found during the September physical and Bosh was not cleared to participate in camp. He remains under contract, but the Heat are expected to petition the league for a medical exclusion, which they can do beginning Feburary 9th, one year since his last game. If it is granted, the Heat can waive Bosh and wipe his final two years of salary –worth more than $52MM — off their cap.

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Pat Riley: Rebuild Will Happen Quickly For Heat

December 21st, 2016 at 12:14pm CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on Joe Rose’s WQAM radio show on Wednesday morning, Pat Riley said he’s disappointed with the Heat’s 9-20 start to the season, but believes the club has a solid young core and the cap flexibility to rebuild quickly, writes Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald. Pointing to players like Hassan Whiteside, Tyler Johnson, Justise Winslow, and Josh Richardson, the longtime Heat president said there are “five or six guys that we really like” on the roster, with the potential to add more.

“I think the No. 1 asset that we have right now is our flexibility moving forward,” Riley said. “We have a first round pick this year. So we’re dealing with it. We’re dealing with that word that you hate to use – that we have to rebuild. But we will rebuild quick.

“I’m not going to hang around here for three or four years selling this kind of song to people in Miami. We have great, great fans. They’re frustrated. They’ve been used to something great over the last 10 years and so right now we’re taking a hit. I think we can turn this thing around. As I said, if five of those [close] losses were turned into wins we could be in the playoffs right now. But they didn’t.

“You can use that word rebuild. But we’re going to do it fast.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

  • While the Heat may not be a playoff team in 2017, Riley is optimistic that the franchise will get a sense this season of which of its players are keepers, per Navarro. “We’ve got a lot of young players that are growing that need to step up, they will emerge,” Riley said. “We will find the ones I think over the next six to seven months that will be a part of this team for a long time.”
  • The Heat have plenty of potential trade candidates on their roster, but Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel is skeptical that there will be a ton of interest in many of the team’s veterans on one-year contracts — especially the ones that have been in and out of the rotation.
  • Derrick Williams, one of the Heat’s most notable offseason additions, has been having an all-or-nothing type season with the team so far, Winderman writes for the Sun Sentinel.
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Latest On Goran Dragic

December 19th, 2016 at 12:17pm CST by Luke Adams
  • According to Kyler, the prevailing belief around the NBA is that the Heat will explore moving Goran Dragic before the trade deadline. However, Heat sources say they’re not ready to blow up the roster at this point, and insist keeping the point guard as a veteran leader is a viable option

    [SOURCE LINK]
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