Roster rules take a math whiz
In the NBA, sometimes 20 really means 21
MIAMI — As some of the Miami Heat’s offseason moves already have shown, there no longer is straight line between filling a 20-player training-camp roster and then making the final cut to 15 by the season opener.
Not with the NBA’s new reality that makes stocking camp rosters a significant element of also stocking developmental-league rosters.
In fact, with the Heat already with 17 players on their camp roster, they actually find themselves one roster spot short of the maximum maneuverability, assuring of at least one additional move after the 20-player camp roster is set.
The reason for that complex math: In addition to the 15-player maximum on NBA regular-season rosters, teams also for the first time are allowed to carry two two-way players, who mostly will bide their time in the G-League, in the Heat’s case the Sioux Falls Skyforce. However, teams also are allowed to directly assign up to four “affiliate” players from training camp to their G-League team after those players are cut during training camp (provided none of those players has received more than $50,000 in camp guarantees).
It is math that allows teams to essentially control 21 players from their camp rosters, even though those rosters are limited to 20. What it means is that the Heat likely will sign a player for camp, waive that player during camp for a replacement, and then have four players that had been on their training-camp roster to assign to the Skyforce.
The difference is that unlike the two two-way players, or players from the final 15-player NBA roster who eventually could be sent down for seasoning, affiliate players are free to be claimed by any other NBA team while in the G-League.
For Heat General Manager Andy Elisburg it creates dual responsibilities in building a camp roster.
“You’re aware of both things,” he said. “You’re populating your traditional 15-man roster and a 10-man G-League roster. And so you’re aware of how you’re kind of dealing with both rosters, and utilizing that period of time to deal with both rosters.” It is why the Heat’s final camp roster might not necessarily feature the best available talent, but rather a pool that also could benefit the team’s developmental program. As for the math, of being able to control 21 players but being limited to a 20-player offseason roster, expect moves similar to last season’s camp, when the Heat kept Keith Benson and Stefan Jankovic for most of camp before subbing them out late in camp with Vashil Fernandez and Luis Montero, with all four then funneled to Sioux Falls.
“How you populated your NBA roster will then determine how you approach maybe the last couple of spots,” Elisburg said, with the Heat currently with three openings. “But you’re also in a mind to bring in players who also populate to the G-League roster.”
All the while, Elisburg said camp also provides the opportunity to turn heads, change minds. Last fall, for example, Rodney McGruder went from seeming longshot to emerging with the final roster berth ahead of Beno Udrih and Briante Weber.
“You can sign players and may say he may be going more to the G-League roster than the NBA roster,” Elisburg said, “and then when they play, they wind up earning a spot on the NBA roster. I think that’s the unknown of what happens when you have the competition.”
Ultimately, expect a fluid process over the next six weeks.
“I think you’re going to see signings up to training camp,” Elisburg said. “You’re going to see signings throughout training camp. You’re going to see signings the last week or two of training camp, maybe last day or two of the preseason, of players who will be joining the roster, who will be probably working their way to various developmental-league teams.
“So you really are looking at both teams.”