South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Empty spots found on full roster
It is the type of thing one would not expect from a franchise that bills itself as “the hardest-working, best-conditioned, most professional, unselfish, toughest, meanest, nastiest team in the NBA.”
And yet there they stand on the Miami Heat roster: empty calories.
So far this season the team built by Pat Riley has proved hearty from the perspective of pushing through adversity. But when it comes to fully one-third of the standard 15-player roster, there has been precious little of sustenance.
Udonis Haslem? Yet to play this season.
Meyers Leonard? Three appearances totaling 29 minutes and now out for the season after shoulder surgery.
Chris Silva? Six appearances for 53 total minutes, out indefinitely with a strained left hip flexor.
KZ Okpala? Has played seven minutes apiece in two of his starts, only four minutes in another, more placeholder than cog.
Moe Harkless? While limited to nine appearances mostly due to injuries, four times held out due to coach’s decision.
That’s one-third of the standard roster, which is why we have seen so much of two-way players Max Strus and Gabe Vincent, players who in other seasons largely would be out of sight in the G League.
During a pandemic-plagued season when every roster spot can matter, when you can lose a player mere minutes before the start of a game (Tyler Herro in Houston on Thursday night) or have one not clear testing until after a game starts (Kendrick Nunn against the Kings in late January), the Heat essentially have been left playing a 10-and-2 approach most nights when it comes to an artificially limited standard roster and the two two-way players, who are limited to appearing in no more than 50 of the 72 games.
With Haslem, it just is the Heat’s way. At no point, even at the end of blowouts, has the 40-year-old power forward reported to the scorers’ table.
And yet teammates would have it no other way. Recently, it was Haslem who personally committed himself to Jimmy Butler’s mental and physical well-being when Butler missed 10 games due to pandemic protocol.
It was a time that had a profound impact on Butler, who embraces Haslem as teammate. And what Jimmy wants ...
With Leonard, it was about the salary from the moment he signed his two-year, $19.6 million contract in the offseason to return. That is the reason why it is unlikely his roster spot is cleared anytime soon, even though the affable center likely has played his final game for the team.
This season, his $9.4 million salary, with his permission, can be utilized to match salaries in a trade. And in the offseason, prior to the start of the 2021-22 cap calendar, the Heat can pick up Leonard’s $10.2 million 2021-22 team option to utilize in a trade.
With Silva, it has become a case where not having a G League affiliate (the Heat bypassed the opportunity amid their quick turnaround between seasons) has limited the growth potential.
If the Heat do need to clear a roster spot, the play could be with Silva, who earns $1.5 million this season, with a team option for $1.8 million next season.
Then there is Okpala, who got his chances early but mostly has found himself chasing games, never quite in lockstep with Erik Spoelstra’s approach.
With another guaranteed season on his contract (at $1.8 million for 2021-22), the raw forward likely is not going anywhere. But the 2019 secondround pick, like Silva, greatly would have benefited from G League time in the Heat system.
As for Harkless, he has been unable to step into either of the roles vacated by Jae Crowder or Derrick Jones Jr.
On a one-year deal at $3.6 million, he became trade-eligible recently and hardly has been cast as an essential component.
The upshot is that during a season when opportunities could be there for an entire standard 15-player roster, the Heat basically have been operating at two-thirds capacity.
That, in part, has made their 2020-21 equation all the more complex.