Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Vincent steps up as Heat’s developmental revelation
The Miami Heat will remain without Jimmy Butler at least into next week, but a degree of roster relief appears to be on the way.
While Butler and Avery Bradley are listed as out for Saturday’s 8 p.m. game against the Detroit Pistons at AmericanAirlines Arena due to NBA health and safety protocols, six teammates who also missed the past two games due to pandemic protocols have been upgraded to questionable: Bam Adebayo, Goran Dragic, Moe Harkless, Udonis Haslem, Kendrick Nunn and KZ Okpala.
The potential quick turnaround for those six indicate they had been sidelined due to COVID-19 contact tracing, after being sent back to South Florida following the cancellation of last Sunday’s game in Boston.
With Bradley and Butler, the designation of the two already being declared out for Saturday due to health and safety protocols would seemingly indicate an issue with coronavirus test results. Players testing positive generally are expected to be out at least 10 to 14 days, per NBA guidelines. Teams are not required to release such information.
In addition, center Meyers Leonard, who strained his left shoulder in last Saturday’s loss in Washington, is listed as out for Saturday, the third consecutive game he will miss with the injury.
Beyond that, guard Tyler Herro is listed as questionable due to neck spasms, with guard Gabe Vincent listed as questionable due to knee soreness.
The Heat, with its NBA-maximum 17-player roster, will have to have at least eight players available to play Saturday’s game.
The Heat had only eight players available for losses Tuesday and Thursday nights in Philadelphia: Herro, Vincent, Precious Achiuwa, Andre Iguodala, Kelly Olynyk, Duncan Robinson, Chris Silva and Max Strus.
Achiuwa, Iguodala, Olynyk, Robinson, Silva and Strus are the only players not on the Heat’s latest injury report.
Final confirmation on the overall status of the roster likely will
not come until shortly before Saturday’s 8 p.m. tip, with additional daily COVID-19 testing on Saturday.
By league rule, the Heat, because they are not in the middle of a back-toback set of games, do not have to file an update for the NBA’s 1:30 p.m. Saturday injury report.
Coronavirus protocols left the Heat the past two games without Adebayo, Bradley, Butler, Dragic, Harkless, Haslem, Okpala and Nunn.
For the Heat, the next two games, including a Monday home rematch with the Pistons, are particularly significant, with the Heat then leaving for a four-game trip that includes two games against the Toronto Raptors in Tampa (where the Raptors are playing due to Canadian border restrictions) and two games against the Brooklyn Nets.
For now, chemistry continues as an abstract, not only because of the recent absences, but with Butler having missed 2 ½ previous games due to an ankle sprain.
“I don’t think we’ve caught stride, obviously, yet,” Herro said, with the Heat carrying a 4-6 record into Saturday, after advancing to last season’s NBA Finals. “We haven’t really had a full team at full strength. We’re still learning. We’re still adjusting to everybody. It’s a new team. It’s a new year.
“We definitely aren’t hitting the panic button.
We know what we have in the locker room and we’re still putting everything together.”
With the hope that Saturday brings them somewhat closer to whole.
“But we’re not going to fall back or relax,” Herro said. “It’s time to continue to just stay at it and continue to grind and get better.
“We’re just trying to get better to prepare ourselves for the playoffs.”
As for reinforcements, the league is considering adding a third two-way contract to rosters, which would allow teams to carry up to 18 players.
The Heat’s two two-way players, Vincent and Strus, already have made their contributions, with Vincent appreciative of the lengths the league has gone to play through the pandemic.
“It’s not your typical season,” he said. “It’s not your typical times in the world right now. It’s tough not to sit in a room on the road just staring at those four walls. But I mean, at the end of the day, most people in the world are doing that, they’re having to quarantine and battle this virus in their way they can.
“Personally, I’m grateful we have basketball, grateful the league’s still going, and that I’m able to do my job and play the game I love and compete. I miss those challenges off the court, in trying to deal with this virus. I think everyone is dealing with it the best they can. Overall, we’re trying to make the best of the situation.”