South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Strus able to lock up final roster spot
The Miami Heat set their 17-player regular-season roster Saturday by converting the training camp contract of former Chicago Bulls guard Max Strus to a two-way contract.
Strus is now eligible to appear in up to 50 of the Heat’s 72 regular-season games, with the team opening the regular season Wednesday against the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center.
T h e He a t ’s o t h e r two-way contract is held by guard Gabe Vincent, who is recovering from an offseason knee scope.
The pair of two-way contracts are in addition to the 15 Heat players under standard, guaranteed NBA contracts: Precious Achiuwa, Bam Adebayo, Avery Bradley, Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic, Maurice Harkless, Udonis Haslem, Tyler Herro, Kendrick Nunn, Andre Iguodala, Meyers Leonard, KZ Okpala, Kelly Olynyk, Duncan Robinson and Chris Silva.
Two -way contracts can be converted to standard contracts at any time, provided there is an available spot on the 15-player roster. The Heat made such a move last season with Silva.
Two -way contracts pay $449,155 this season, compared to the league minimum of $989,310 for a rookie.
The NBA this season will allow teams to have as many as 15 players in uniform on game nights, up from the previous gamenight limit of 13.
Guard BJ Johnson was waived Saturday to get the Heat down to the 17-player regular-season roster limit.
Teams are allowed to make roster changes at any point going forward, as long as the 17-player limit is not exceeded.
Strus, who was cut at the end of the Boston Celtics’ 2019 training camp and then played with the Chicago Bulls and the Bulls’ G League affiliate last season, had been inactive for almost a year as he recovered from knee surgery last December.
The 6-foot-5, 220-pound guard erupted for 22 points in Friday’s 117-105 preseason-closing victory over the Toronto Raptors in Tampa, shooting 6 of 8 on 3-pointers.
“You can see he’s ignitable when he hits two or three, much like a few of our guys that can keep on going to four, five and six,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of Strus’ 3-point shooting. “But he’s not just a shooter.
“He has also made some pretty good strides in this training camp defensively and can move his feet. He’s a pretty heady player defensively.”
Strus said he found himself at ease with the Heat as soon as he signed Nov. 30.
“Getting here has been amazing,” he said. “Everything you hear about the Heat culture, the Heat way and how they do things here is true. It’s real.
“It’s everything you want to be a part of: make sure you do your part in order to get a championship here. Every guy here holds each other accountable.”
Vincent and forward Kyle Alexander were the Heat’s two-way players at the end of last season. The Heat’s previous two-way contracts over the years have been held by current roster members Robinson and Silva, as well as Derrick Jones Jr., Matt Williams Jr., Derrick Walton Jr. and Yante Maten.
Teams are allowed to switch out their two-way players during the course of a season, as the Heat have done each of the previous three seasons the program has been in place.
Unlike during typical seasons, due to the coronavirus the Heat are not planning to field a G League team this season, thereby losing a development element with the two-way contracts.
The Heat are allowed to send players to other teams’ G League affiliates for seasoning.
Another change due to the pandemic is the 50-game limit. Two-way players previously had been limited to a total of 45 days with an NBA team, including practice days.
Strus said his mandate from Spoelstra and the Heat has been clear.
“Every time I pass up a shot, they’re on me in practice,” he said. “It’s nice to already have the confidence from the coaching staff telling me to ‘Shoot the ball every time you’re open.’ That has been good.
“For me, personally, I just got to work defensively and get better on that end. But [I have] mainly been focused on shooting when I’m open and everything like that.”