Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
A tip of the cap
Spoelstra praises GM Elisburg’s work with managing salaries
MIAMI — As if the Miami Heat haven’t had enough high anxiety with all their close games this season, coach Erik Spoelstra said he can appreciate players double-checking their texts at this time of year, as Thursday’s 3 p.m. NBA trading deadline approaches.
“I know everybody is probably looking at HoopsHype and not necessarily what the circumstance might be here,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat facing the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night at Miami-Dade Arena.
“For right or wrong, these are interesting times in the league, for the trade deadline, draft, free agency. The guys are fans as well, so they’re just monitoring.”
The NBA deadline had previously been after the All-Star break, with the league moving up that timetable in recent years.
Spoelstra said he is an advocate of that change.
“I actually like the adjustment of having this done before the break, have an idea what your team is going to be coming back for that stretch run,” he said, with the Heat’s final game before the break Feb. 15 on the road against the Brooklyn Nets and their first game back from the break Feb. 24 at the Milwaukee Bucks.
“You can’t set up a perfect scenario when there is a business behind all of that. You just try to have empathy for everybody in the league right now.”
While the deadline ostensibly is about personnel, it also is about making the math work under the complex NBA salary cap. That is an element Spoelstra said is better left to Heat general manager Andy Elisburg.
“He’s speaking a different language when he talks about the cap,” Spoelstra said with a laugh. “He loses all of us. It’s like, ‘Whoa.’
“We’re literally checkers and that’s chess.”
But Spoelstra also appreciates the value of an expert capologist such as Elisburg.
“I love sitting in his office during the offseason,” Spoelstra said. “I learn a lot. I don’t think I retain anything, but I definitely learn a lot.
“It’s really fascinating to see how he can problem-solve and find solutions to things that look impossible.”
Bouyea added
The Heat’s first move after unloading Dewayne Dedmon’s contract on the San Antonio Spurs was signing summer-league standout Jamaree Bouyea to a 10-day contract.
Bouyea, a guard who went undrafted out of the University of San Francisco last June, has been playing for the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
Bouyea arrives at a time the Heat are without point guard Kyle Lowry, who will miss at least three games due to knee pain, and guard Victor Oladipo, who is dealing with an ankle sprain and missed Wednesday night’s game.
A combo guard who has been playing at the point for the Skyforce, Bouyea in the G League this season is averaging 9.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists.
A player can sign up to two 10-day contracts, and then must either be converted to a standard contract or waived.
Each 10-day contract pays about $100,000.
The Heat also would have the option of shifting Bouyea to a two-way contract if one of the current two-way players, Jamal Cain or Orlando Robinson, is converted to a standard deal.
No timetable
Spoelstra declined to offer a timetable on the returns of center Omer Yurtseven (ankle surgery) and forward Duncan Robinson (finger surgery), with both remaining sidelined.
He said they have been progressing.
“They have,” Spoelstra said. “I won’t go into like the granular details of what they’re able to do, but they’re both progressing very well.
“And if you ask each of them, they’re way ahead of schedule. That’s where we just have to be very prudent on what that next step will be. They’re getting closer.”