The Miami Heat are dealing with a familiar refrain. While they’ve handled it better than last season and have a strong record, depth has become a problem once again.
Winning covers a multitude of sins in the NBA. That has been the case through the first third of the season for the Miami Heat. With a strong record and statement wins against the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers, the Heat have been impressive in the early goings. In spite of that, they suffer from a familiar problem.
A year ago the Heat had massive injury issues up and down the lineup. Goran Dragic only played 36 games. Dion Waiters only played 44 games. Justise Winslow, James Johnson and Derrick Jones Jr. all missed time. Josh Richardson, the key component in the trade to bring Butler to South Beach, was healthy most of the season before missing time to end the year and derail a last-ditch playoff push.
Things look mighty familiar so far in 2019-20. Dragic has missed 10 games already. Winslow has only played in 10. Derrick Jones Jr. has played 13 games. Dion Waiters hasn’t played yet and there is no chance of that changing anytime soon.
The Heat are up against the luxury apron, effectively the hard cap which kicked in as a result of the Richardson for Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade. This means that barring a major shakeup most likely involving multiple trades, what the Heat have now is what they’ve got.
As for what they have at their disposal right now, the Heat have their two two-way players in Daryl Macon and Chris Silva. While Macon has seen limited action with just 14 minutes played in four games, Silva has practically been part of the rotation.
Silva has appeared in 24 of the Heat’s 28 games so far, averaging 9.4 minutes per appearance.
Players on two-way contracts have a maximum of 45 days they can spend with their NBA team before they must be converted to an NBA league minimum contract or released. While Silva’s days have been maximized (holding him out of practice days, for example, which then don’t count against his total), at a certain point something must give.
The best and clearest solution to the problem would simply be for this multitude of injured players to recover and return. Fortunately the Miami Heat are off to this tremendous 20-8 start, which gives them time to figure things out if key players (Dragic and Winslow in particular) don’t swiftly return.