Winslow may return tonight from wrist injury
MIAMI — The long-awaited return of Justise Winslow finally may be here.
Winslow, the Heat’s second-year forward who has missed the past 16 games because of a sprained left wrist, participated in his first full-contact practice Tuesday since being removed from the lineup, and coach Erik Spoelstra is hopeful Winslow can play tonight when the Heat host Indiana.
“I don’t know if he’ll be ready to go,” Spoelstra said. “I’m planning on whoever’s available, that’s who we’re going with. It was a good step, but we’ll just have to see how his body responds.”
The fact that Winslow was not ruled out for tonight is an encouraging sign.
Winslow, who was not available to speak to the media, played through the pain for most of the first nine games before finally being shut down Nov. 15. He has gone through extensive treatment and started experimenting with a protective wrist band during practice.
Winslow, 20, shot short jumpers following Tuesday’s practice while wearing just tape on his wrist.
S p o e l s t r a s a i d b e f o r e Miami’s 112-101 home victory over Washington on Monday that Winslow likely will wear a bulkier wrist brace when he is not playing as a precaution. He said the Heat hope Winslow will not need surgery down the line. Winslow was injured early in the season but never has been able to pinpoint the game. Spoelstra said he kept aggravating the injury by falling on the wrist.
Although Winslow has b e e n o u t a m o n t h , t h e injury has been described as a sprain and nothing more.
“I t h i n k r i g h t n o w a l l of our hopes are that he won’t need it,” Spoelstra said when asked if Winslow would need surgery at some point. “That’s why we went through extensive treatment and rest. Right now it looks like we won’t need to go that route.”
Winslow is averaging 11.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists. He is shooting just 33.6 percent from the floor, including 22.2 percent (6 of 27) on 3-pointers.
Spoelstra said guard Dion Waiters (torn groin muscle) “is doing better” but is not practicing, though he’s doing light shooting.
Waiters has missed the past nine games.
Spoelstra not a fan of more refs on court: A larger officiating crew isn’t necessarily a good thing in Spoelstra’s eyes.
The NBA Development League announced Monday that it will experiment with four- and five-person officiating crews for nine games this season. The NBA uses three-person officiating crews but wants to see how games go with larger crews.
“I’m a little bit more of the school of thought that the more people that are out there, the less accountability there is,” Spoelstra said before Monday’s game.
“Actually, Ron (Rothstein) used to talk about it all the time. When he coached, there were two officials. You watched the game and you watched everything that was happening, and you end up having more accountability.”
The D-League will begin its experiment with larger officiating crews on Dec. 26. The Sioux Falls Skyforce, the Heat’s D-League affiliate, is not included in any of them.
“It seems like now more and more that it’s somebody else’s call or it’s somebody else’s eyes that are supposed to be on that,” Spoelstra said. “There’s a lot more gray area. It’s very confusing to all of us. It must be incredibly stressful and confusing for the officials.
“I think you add one more, much less two more to the mix and it will become even more confusing, in my opinion. And there’s more bodies on the court. We need more court space and less bodies.”
The four-person experiments will be run in t wo configurations. The first will feature two officials in the lead position and two split bet ween the slot and the trail. The second is highlighted by t wo officials in the slot position with the additional two as a trail and a lead, respectively.
In the five-person tests, the existing three-person system will rotate typically with the two additional officials taking lead stationary positions on each end of the court.
“We are confident in how our three-person system works and are constantly thinking of ways to improve our game,” said Bob Delaney, the NBA’s vice president of referee operations and director of officials.
“The four- and five-referee initiative is a prime example of that focus and will help the NBA with research and development. The NBA D-League provides the perfect opportunity to conduct this test.”