Mailbag: There is no easy decision when it comes to managing Heat’s rotation
The weekly Miami Herald Heat mailbag is here to answer your questions.
If you weren’t able to ask a question this time, send your questions for future mailbags via Twitter (@Anthony_Chiang). You can also email me at achiang@miamiherald.com.
Guillermo: The Heat has too many guys. How can anybody expect Erik Spoelstra to find a set rotation. He can’t make everybody happy.
Anthony Chiang: That’s the challenge Spoelstra faces, when most of the roster is healthy. Spoelstra and his coaching staff have been able to avoid this issue for the most part in each of the past two seasons because of injuries to key players that have made rotation decisions easier.
But the emergence of Derrick Jones Jr. gives the Heat 13 rotation-level players, and 12 are currently healthy (only Goran Dragic is out due to injury). That means if the Heat uses a 10-man rotation like it has for most of the season, two players who have a solid argument to play are left out. With Dion Waiters back, Spoelstra has been going with an 11-man rotation recently in an attempt to make the most of the Heat’s depth. Wayne Ellington has been the player consistently left out during the past month. Even then, Dion is asking for more minutes as he looks to regain his rhythm after missing the past year of games because of ankle surgery.
Yeah, Spoelstra does not have an easy job when it comes to managing this roster. One could say, Ellington needs to play, but that’s going to come at the expense of another player. The Heat could slide Waiters into Rodney McGruder’s spot in the starting lineup, and then have Ellington play off the bench and have McGruder as the one left out of the rotation. But the argument can be made that McGruder deserves consistent minutes because of his ability to make things happen without the ball in his hands.
All of this gets even more complicated when Dragic returns, likely in mid-February. This is the product of having a logjam of good players. The Heat has said depth is its strength, but every player must buy in and know minutes could be inconsistent on a team that has a roster full of rotation players. That’s the catch.
Of course, a trade or trades before next month’s deadline could help solve this issue.
@Bama_T: Who should be over being patient, the Heat or Dion Waiters?
Anthony: None of the parties involved. Is that an acceptable answer? The Heat shouldn’t be over being patient because Waiters just returned to game action two weeks ago from an injury that required serious ankle surgery. And Dion shouldn’t be over being patient because he just returned to game action two weeks ago from an injury that required serious ankle surgery.
It’s easy to forget that Waiter missed a year (!) of games. That’s a long, long time. He’s not just going to come back and play 30-plus minutes in a starting role right away. There’s going to be a process to get to that point.
This story was originally published January 17, 2019 at 10:55 AM.
