Herro back at practice, Butler, Bradley out
The Miami Heat felt they were doing right by the NBA by moving forward with eightplayer rosters twice last week in road losses to the Philadelphia 76ers. In retrospect, it appears the league recognizes it did not do right by the Heat.
In an accommodation to teams with rosters severely limited by pandemic protocols, the NBA has turned to postponing games ahead of teams showing that they might be limited to eight players, the league minimum.
“I think it took a little bit of noise coming from us, and from Philadelphia,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Thursday ,“when you’ re going through it the first time, just to let everybody know that this probably isn’t right.”
With no other options, Spoelstra in those two losses was forced to load up on minutes for second-year guard Tyler Herro, at a time Herro first was dealing with neck spasms. Herro has since missed the past three games, listed as questionable for Friday night’s game against the Toronto Raptors in Tampa.
“There’s no telling for sure if this is why Tyler missed these games,” Spoelstra said. “But it definitely didn’t help that he had to play and play that many minutes. We didn’t have anybody else at that point. If he didn’ t play, then we would have had seven.”
Those two losses could potentially impact playoff seeding in the Eastern Conference or even playoff tiebreakers.
“In hindsight,” Spoelstra said, “based on what you’re seeing, we probably just would have not allowed him to play, and we’d have been forced into a postponement.”
While Spoelstra publicly at the time insisted his team had enough to compete, he said there were significant discussions behind the scenes.
“We were in constant discussion with the league,” he said.
Veteran forward Andre Iguodala, first vice president of the National Basketball Players Association, said Thursday it was a difficult spot when it came to weighing playing the games versus prioritizing Herro’s well-being.
“You understand sometimes you get the short end of the stick, and you’ve got to roll with the punches,” he said.
“That’s that fine line between player health and player safety and the business side, which is revenue.”
Thursday was Herro’s first time back on the practice court since those losses in Philadelphia. The Heat have gone 2-1 in that stretch, including Wednesday night’ s 111-102 victory over the Raptors at the start of this four-game trip.
“It’s different than a game. Let’s take it one day at a time,” Spoelstra said of Herro’s game-readiness. “It was good to have him on the court, doing some work.”
As for the rest of the Heat injury report, Jimmy Butler and Avery Bradley remain out and away from the team due to pandemic protocols, with Meyers Leonard still out due to a shoulder strain.
The Heat added Chris Silva to their injury report, listing him as questionable due to a hip flexor strain.
Fresh-air break
Thursday typically would have been a day off for the Heat, amid a stretch of three games in four nights that also includes a Saturday matchup against the Brooklyn Nets.
Still, practice represented an opportunity for players to clear their heads, with road life in the NBA amid the coronavirus pandemic now limited to hotel, practice court, arena, with meals taken in the hotel.
“Yeah, I mean the walk from the bus, the 30 steps from the bus into the arena is like the highlight of your day now ,” center Kelly Olynyk said. “But I tell everybody, it’s basically like you’re in the bubble, without the benefits of the bubble.”
The NBA completed last season in a quarantine bubble at Disney World, where players were allowed to move freely within areas closed off to the public.
“You’re in a hotel, you eat the hotel food, bus to the game, bus back, stay in the hotel again,” Olynyk said. “It is what it is. You know you’ve got to do what you can to keep everybody safe and make sure that we’re doing the right thing to keep this league going.
“Obviously, it’s not ideal for us or for anybody else in the world right now.”