With the Miami Heat facing depth issues for much of the short season already, moves have needed to be made.
And though you never want to make a move just for the sake of making a move, the Miami Heat had to tweak something with their roster or the deployment to begin to head in the right direction with what they want to do this season.
Playing rookies, Nikola Jovic and Jamal Cain, a bit more may go a long way toward helping address their issues, but they could still surely help themselves a bit more in other ways as well. And that’s what they did recently, upgrading a bigger-bodied developmental guy to a two-way deal in Orlando Robinson.
OFFICIAL: The Miami HEAT have signed center Orlando Robinson to a two-way contract. In addition, Miami has waived guard Dru Smith from his two-way contract.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) November 13, 2022
It’s not as if Robinson is the end all be all or the answer to all of their issues because besides, if he was, why would he still be in the G-League in the first place, right?
The Miami Heat waived Dru Smith to make room for another big body. Upgrading center, Orlando Robinson, to the big club, it’s a long-overdue move.
The whole thing about it is that at this very moment, he gives them depth and potentially, an asset, in an area of need.
With Omer Yurtseven yet to play a minute of real action this season, it seems he will be out for much longer than anticipated after now needing surgery. Reports indicate that after the procedure and with recovery, Big Yurt could miss as much time as three months of action.
And here’s the real kicker, Robinson could have, perhaps, helped prior to the injury. It’s actually worth noting that after Marcus Garrett’s injury, Robinson should have probably been given the additional slot over Dru Smith in the first place.
You like what Smith can do, but with the Miami Heat’s areas of need, their depth at the guard spot, and when you include the fact that Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler also help out with a lot of the initiation and ball handling, it wasn’t the absolute best use of the spot.
Robinson may not play immediately, but then again, he might. He will play though and his ability to help protect the rim and space the floor on offense as a five, as Dewayne Dedmon has shown capable of, should really come in handy for a Heat team desperate for depth among their bigs.