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The Miami Heat are a team defined by second chances

By Brandon Johnson

WASHINGTON, D.C. - OCTOBER 5: Briante Weber #4 of the Miami Heat handles the ball against Washington Wizards during a pre-season game on October 5, 2018 at Capital One Arena, in Washington, D.C. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, D.C. - OCTOBER 5: Briante Weber #4 of the Miami Heat handles the ball against Washington Wizards during a pre-season game on October 5, 2018 at Capital One Arena, in Washington, D.C. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Heat have returned a number of familiar faces this preseason, each of whom are vying for the team’s final roster spot.

For two Miami Heat hopefuls, the flag flies at half-mast.

Malik Newman and Marcus Lee were the first of the team’s reductions following this season; their service having ended after training camp and three preseason games.

Worse yet, their dismissal paints a perfect picture of the grim outlook sitting before many Heat hopefuls entering training camp.

Miami currently has 14 players on guaranteed contracts this season.

The NBA’s roster size, barring hardship exceptions and things of the sort, caps rosters at 15 players, with spots open for a pair of two-way contracts. Since Duncan Robinson and Yante Maten sopped up Miami’s two-way deals after showing out at Summer League, the Heat are effectively left with a single open roster space.

For a team looking to build on last year’s success, that opening is a coveted job opportunity on both sides of the employment application.

The Heat need a player that fits its system; likely a true backup point guard that will allow Justise Winslow, Tyler Johnson and James Johnson, more positional fluidity.

On the other hand, prospective players look to Miami’s opening as a chance to make a name on a historically significant franchise, that puts a premium on player development.

For many who would otherwise be lost to the dusty corridors of the NBA’s yesteryear – Jason Kapono, Dorrell Wright, Mario Chalmers – the Heat were a chance at personal and collective success.

Highly coveted and managed by team president Pat Riley’s inscrutable eye, the Heat still have three more preseason games to discern whether it wants to offer one of its unsigned players, a deal.

Second Chances

Newman and Lee, though unable to make the full team, will still be among Miami’s ranks, likely sent to the team’s G-League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. The same fate could await the rest of Miami’s preseason players, should any of their attempts to win a full contract fall short.

Still, this competition for Miami’s final roster spot isn’t a new situation for the unsigned hype.

Briante Weber and Jarnell Stokes have well-documented bouts with the Heat. Weber was notoriously signed four separate times by Miami, and accompanied the team in its 2016 Playoffs run to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

"“Miami likes me in a sense where they’ll keep calling me to come back,” Weber noted at the end of August. “It seems one time I’m going to stick.”"

And with two preseason spots opened with the dismissal of Newman and Lee, the chance arrived for another familiar face to take up arms and tryout for Miami.

This past weekend, the Heat announced the team added Charles Cooke and DeAndre Liggins to the team’s preseason roster, pushing the number back to a nice, round 20.

Cooke and Liggins both have NBA experience, the former playing 13 games with the eventual playoff-surprise New Orleans Pelicans in 2017-18, and the latter having served with a handful of teams, but most notably with the post-title Cleveland Cavaliers.

Liggins, more than Cooke however, has an edge that puts him closer to the top of the Heat’s shortlist.

In 2013-14, he played a single minute in a single Heat game, scoring his only shot and notching a 100 percent field goal percentage in the Heat record books (minimums not withstanding).

For the record, he also played a few stints with the Skyforce.

Whether LeBron James, Liggins’ former teammate, put in a good word with Riley is unclear, but having a history with the Heat, in more ways than one, certainly can’t hurt.

Like Weber, Liggins is a plucky, defensive minded guard. He is a two-time G-League Defensive Player of the Year, capable of taking his talents to the NBA, evidenced by last year’s stint with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Considering Miami’s pursuit of Jimmy Butler, Liggins and Weber could be the most likely full-time targets if the trade’s fall through. Weber has the advantage of being a play-running point guard to backup Goran Dragic, while Liggins is a calm and collected scorer off of turnovers.

Though Miami is still very much over the Association’s salary cap, picking up Weber or Liggins falls in line with the team’s current trajectory of developing players for future success with the team.

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But more than that, both are indicative of Miami’s league-defining infatuation with second chances.

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