As the Miami Heat let the media in on Monday as they prepare to tip off their training camp, the players took questions about their offseason, hopes, and prospects for the coming year. While some key decision makers were surely in the midst, they are probably still hard at work making final tweaks and alterations with the roster as well.
For the Miami Heat, that has to start with the rotation at the power forward spot. While the firm belief is that Caleb Martin will get the first shot at the gig, they could best serve themselves to make, at least, one addition to the group that may be on the committee at the position.
While there are a few on the roster, Haywood Highsmith, Darius Days, and hopefully even Nikola Jovic in his rookie season with the Miami Heat, there is a name that has been floated out there, a familiar name, that is slowly becoming just as real a possibility again as any.
Suns Statement: The Phoenix Suns and forward Jae Crowder have mutually agreed that he will not be with the team for training camp.
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) September 25, 2022
In a situation that has been bubbling up for a few weeks, boiling over at this point, Crowder and the Suns are officially over each other.
The Miami Heat still need to add to their forward rotation and a former guy, Jae Crowder, is available. It should seem like a rather simple equation at this point.
In a cryptic Tweet by Jae Crowder on Sunday, as much would be confirmed.
Averaging 11.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists across just 20 games for the Miami Heat in the Bubble Season, he would then go on to spend the last two seasons in Phoenix. With the emergence of guys like Cameron Johnson and Mikal Bridges in The Valley Of The Sun though, Crowder’s presence is no longer deemed a necessity.
Well, the Miami Heat could certainly use his services again and he would, reportedly, welcome it. He would come back into the fold and fit right back in, as he did in his short stint during the Bubble year after coming over from Memphis.
While you honestly don’t know if he would leap or supplant Caleb Martin as the guy to get the first crack as the starter at the four spot, he would be a key guy there in a rotation, if not the outright starter once things are all said and done.
Nothing is certain yet, but you have to think the Miami Heat are firmly in the mix. The price tag is something they’ll certainly have to work out, but it would probably be worth it.
They need a guy of his ilk, they know him, his game, and at this point—it would be a major grab for a team in the wee hours of preparation for the real season.