Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat sets postseason roster.
Two-way players Jones and Walton will not be eligible in postseason
MIAMI — Wednesday night’s close of the regular season meant the close of the season for Miami Heat two-way players Derrick Jones Jr. and Derrick Walton Jr., with such players ineligible for postseason rosters.
The Heat faced a Wednesday deadline, prior to their regular-season finale against the Toronto Raptors at American-Airlines Arena, to have either eligible for their 15-player postseason roster. Such a shift would have required releasing a player.
The Raptors earlier Wednesday converted the two-way contract of guard Lorenzo Brown to a standard contract in order to make him playoff eligible. Unlike the Heat, the Raptors had a vacant spot on their 15-player roster for such a move.
Jones and Walton, who both split the season between the Heat and the G League, are allowed to practice and travel with the Heat during the postseason and can be voted playoff shares should their Heat teammates deem so.
The two will become free agents on July 1, with the Heat not allowed to re-sign them in advance.
That will leave the Heat playoff roster as: Hassan Whiteside, James Johnson, Josh Richardson, Tyler Johnson, Goran Dragic, Justise Winslow, Kelly Olynyk, Dwyane Wade, Wayne Ellington, Rodney McGruder, Bam Adebayo, Luke Babbitt, Jordan Mickey, Udonis Haslem and sidelined guard Dion Waiters.
The payoff
Coach Erik Spoelstra said Wednesday the Heat’s playoff berth has been particularly embraced after failing to make the 2017 postseason by a tiebreaker and then enduring so many close finishes this season.
“I absolutely love the way this group has handled adversity. I really do,” he said. “I respect the heck out of this group, to have a determination to come back, work on things, get better, overcome challenges. All of these things are needed when you get to the second season, and the second season becomes about capturing moments.
“We’ve got guys who have experience and have an illustrious history of capturing those moments. And we have guys that are coming into this new, with an opportunity to make some new moments. That’s exciting. That’s fun. And I’m really looking forward to this weekend, when we get there.”
Final push
Spoelstra said he was particularly impressed with the work of the team’s video and scouting staff, having had to start the week with potential playoff plans for four possible opponents.
He comparted it to when he and former Heat assistant coach David
Fizdale handled such assignments for the team.
“They have been workhorses,” he said. “They’ve been absolutely crushing it. It makes me feel guilty, thinking about how much they work and how efficient they are and how much content they push out of that room, compared to what Fiz and I used to do back in the day.”
One shy
Wednesday’s appearance left forward Richardson one game shy of appearing in all 82 this season, something that has not been done by a Heat player since Norris Cole in 2013-14.
“I’ll get it one year, so I’m not worried about it,” he said. “I’m close. I’ll take that. It’s not a big deal.”
Richardson’s lone absence was when he missed the March 14 road overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings with a sore left foot.
“Last season, I was hurt a lot. And my first season I just didn’t get to play a lot of the games,” the Heat’s 2015 second-round pick out of Tennessee said. “So just being able to be out there for my teammates every night, I really take a lot of pride in that.”