Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Tyree, Eboua waived to make room roster
The Miami Heat reduced their camp roster to 18 Wednesday by waiving undrafted guard Breein Tyree and international prospect Paul Eboua.
The moves leave the Heat one player above the NBA regular-season limit, allowed to carry 15 players under standard contract and two two-way players, with those two players limited to a maximum of 50 appearances during the pandemic-truncated 72-game regular season.
Wednesday’s moves likely leave returning two-way player Gabe Vincent and camp invitees BJ Johnson and Max Strus competing for the two two-way spots. Of the three, Johnson and Strus both appeared in Monday’s preseason-opening loss to the New Orleans Pelicans at AmericanAirlines Arena. Eboua did not play in that game, with Tyree playing 3:52 and going scoreless.
The Heat conclude their two-game preseason schedule Friday night against the Toronto Raptors in Tampa, before opening the regular season Dec. 23 against the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center.
The Heat are carrying 15 players under guaranteed contract, with the team’s position under the hard salary cap making it unlikely they would waive one of those salaries by Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. waiver deadline.
The 15 players under guaranteed contracts are 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.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and resulting logistics, the Heat are bypassing participat
ing in the G League this season. During typical seasons, players waived by the Heat late in camp would then be assigned to the Sioux Falls Skyforce, eligible to continue work in the team’s development program.
The Heat remain eligible to send players to other team’s G League teams, but such players must be under contract to the Heat.
The timing of Wednesday’s moves are an indication that Dragic, Butler and Iguodala, after being held out of the preseason opener, will be available for Friday’s exhibition.
Challenge set
With Giannis Antetokounmpo re-upping with the Milwaukee Bucks, it again will mean no getting around an inevitable challenge from the Bucks. That, the Heat’s
Jimmy Butler said, is fine by him.
“I like it. I don’t think you can go around him. I don’t think you can go around LeBron [James] either,” Butler said, with the Heat having eliminated Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals, before losing to James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. “I think you’ve got to go right through ‘em. You’ve got to beat them. But you also got to beat the Sixers, you got to beat Boston, you got to beat Toronto.
“There’s a lot of squads in this East that you’ve got to go through, with some really good players. It doesn’t intimidate me none. I actually get really excited. I want to go up against the best. I know my guys want to go up against the best.”
There won’t be much of a wait, with the Heat playing the Bucks in back-to-back home games the second week of the season, on Dec. 29-30.
“I can’t wait for the Heat versus the Bucks matchup,” Butler said.
Size differential
At 6 feet 8, 235 pounds, firstround pick Precious Achiuwa is listed by the Heat as an inch shorter and 20 pounds lighter than Bam Adebayo, who, himself, is considered somewhat of an undersized center.
No matter, coach Erik Spoelstra said.
“I’ll tell you what, you get him out there and you get him rolling to the rim and putting pressure on the basket, he just feels a lot bigger,” Spoelstra said. “He has that way about him, in a similar way as Bam. He plays huge, he plays big, he plays impactful. We will build on that. I don’t want to put a ceiling.”