Miami Heat expecting February trade to pay more dividends. Here’s what changed Tuesday
When the NBA restarts its season in the days ahead, the Heat will have all three players acquired in a February trade with Memphis, with Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala key rotation pieces and Solomon Hill available if needed.
But only one of the three players jettisoned by the Heat in that deal is still standing, with Tuesday’s news that Justise Winslow sustained a season-ending hip injury during Monday’s Memphis practice. Winslow ended up not playing a single game this season for the Grizzlies because of a back bruise that limited him to one Heat appearance between Dec. 6 and the Feb. 8 trade. He’s under contract for $13 million next season, with a $13 million team option for 2021-22.
With James Johnson’s Minnesota Timberwolves not invited to the NBA restart, that leaves Dion Waiters as the only player dealt by the Heat in the trade positioned to play in the weeks ahead. The Grizzlies waived Waiters and he signed with the Lakers, where he’s hoping to crack the rotation.
As for the Heat’s pickups in that trade, coach Erik Spoelstra said Tuesday that Iguodala and Crowder have both looked good during 10 days of practices at the Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista.
Iguodala is in the midst of an unusual 13-month stretch in which he didn’t play at all for eight months after playing in the NBA Finals for Golden State, then appeared in 14 games for the Heat and then had a four-month stoppage.
“He’s gotten better each day,” Spoelstra said Tuesday. “It was helpful those weeks before we got here. He came to Miami early and got in quality player development time, and I mentioned to him right after practice each one of these days he has looked better, more comfortable and he’s been able to get to his strengths. You see how many different ways he can impact a game to help you win on both ends of the court. [Tuesday] was one of his better practices, if not his best practice.”
Iguodala said in his first 14 games, “a few games I felt really good and still had energy left after the game,” he said. “Other games, I’ve been like, ‘Whew, that was all I had.’ ”
Spoelstra reminded on Tuesday that “he didn’t have a training camp this year. This has been so valuable to him as much as anybody.”
Crowder immediately earned Spoelstra’s trust after the trade, ranking near the top of the league in fourth-quarter minutes over a four-week period and averaging 11.9 points and 5.8 rebounds and shooting 39.3 percent on three-pointers.
“He’s looked good,” Spoelstra said. “It was really valuable for him to go through a training camp setting with us. He’s well-versed and savvy enough that he picks up systems well. He’s played in enough good places, has playoff experience. Things he brings to the table fit very seamlessly with what we do. His physicality on that [defensive] end. Offensively, he can stretch the floor. And he fit with our guys that handle the ball the most for us.”
Crowder was averaging 28.7 minutes for the Heat, Iguodala 18.5, which would easily be a career low but was by design as he worked his way back from a long layoff.
WADE EXPLAINS
On national television Monday night, Dwyane Wade for the third time remorsefully addressed his tweet last week that offered support for TV personality Nick Cannon, who lost his job at CBS/Viacom last week after spewing ani-Semitic conspiracy theories on an episode of his “Cannon’s Class” podcast.
Last week, Wade initially tweeted at Cannon with the words: “We are with you” and “Keep leading!” Wade took down the tweet after a social media backlash and offered clarification on Twitter soon after.
On Monday, during TNT’s debut of a new studio show about the pandemic and social justice issues, Wade referenced the tweet and said: “I got some education from friends that I appreciate and I thank you guys. If anybody felt that I was supporting hate speech, that’s not who I am. That’s not my character. But I will support another Black man that in America gets thrown away all the time.”
Wade also mentioned that Cannon had received input from rabbis and suggested he had done the same.
SCRIMMAGE TV UPDATE
The Heat’s second of three scrimmages — at 4 p.m. Saturday against Utah — will not be televised live by Fox Sports Sun because of baseball conflicts, and the NBA will not permit NBA TV to air its live national broadcast of the game in South Florida.
Because of NBA blackout rules, Heat fans in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and parts of Collier counties must either wait to watch the replay of the game on Fox Sports Sun at 8 p.m. or watch the game live on the Fox Sports Go app. The game will be televised live everywhere in the United States except the Heat’s broadcast territory.
Every other Heat game for the duration of the season — including Wednesday’s 8 p.m. scrimmage opener against Sacramento — will be televised live in South Florida.
