How does trade impact Heat’s rotation? And Spoelstra discusses human element of dealing Ellington, Johnson
With Thursday’s NBA trade deadline now in the past, the Heat moved forward. Not much different than it looked a few days ago, but different.
The Heat didn’t make a move on deadline day, but Wednesday’s trade that sent Tyler Johnson and Wayne Ellington to the Suns in exchange for forward Ryan Anderson was enough to shake things up for a group that had mostly remained intact for the better part of three seasons.
“I think no one on this team expected for us to be together for three years,” forward James Johnson said after Thursday’s practice in Sacramento.
Tyler Johnson developed into a rotation-level NBA player with the Heat after joining the organization as an undrafted free agent out of Fresno State in 2014. Ellington first signed with the Heat as a free agent in 2016 and set a career-high and team record with 227 made three-pointers last season.
“I think the most important thing about this is when you make transactions like this, it’s OK to feel sadness for guys that are going out. I absolutely love Wayne Ellington and Tyler Johnson,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That’s not going to change. We’ve created a bond that’s going to transcend this. Yeah, I’m not going to feel ashamed of feeling sad about them moving on to other teams. At the same time, the duality is I can feel great gratitude with the opportunity to coach both of them.
But as Tyler Johnson prepares to make his Suns debut on Friday and Ellington looks for a new team after being waived by the Suns, Miami moved forward with a Friday game against the Kings looming — the second of a five-game West Coast trip.
Miami moves forward with a 13-man roster after the two-for-one trade, and Anderson was with the team for Thursday’s practice. Teams are allowed to go up to two weeks at a time with 13 players, which forces the Heat to add another player to reach the league minimum of 14.
“This is a top notch organization,” Anderson said in his first interview as a member of the Heat. “Obviously I’ve known about that, but just to experience it Day 1 is pretty special. To go from an organization that’s rebuilding and trying to figure things out to an established organization with great players and real direction and really playing for something year, I can’t tell you how excited I am to be a part of this.”
Aside from the financial implications (trimming a $9.7 million luxury tax bill to $1.8 million), trading away Tyler Johnson and Ellington worked to tighten what was a crowded rotation. With two fewer guards on the roster, it leaves Justise Winslow, Josh Richardson, Goran Dragic, Dion Waiters, Dwyane Wade and Rodney McGruder as Miami’s guards on a team that plays a lot of three-guard lineups.
The move should free up additional minutes for Waiters, who’s publicly made it clear he wants to play more as he’s averaged 19.4 minutes of playing time in a reserve role since returning Jan. 2 from ankle surgery.
The trade even opens up a spot in the Heat’s starting lineup, with the departure of Tyler Johnson leaving a void in the Heat’s first five. Tyler Johnson made three consecutive starts in the backcourt before the trade.
Spoelstra has three options to replace Tyler Johnson in the starting lineup: Wade, Waiters or McGruder. The Heat prefers to keep Wade in his sixth man role, so it could come down to McGruder (who has fallen out of the rotation recently after starting in 44 of Miami’s first 45 games) and Waiters (who was the Heat’s starting shooting guard before he underwent ankle surgery).
When asked if Waiters will slide into the starting lineup after Wednesday’s trade, Spoelstra said: “No, not immediately. Goran [Dragic] is still working his way back and I don’t want to necessarily make two changes. But I’ve always been open to changing my mind, as well.”
Spoelstra added that McGruder is “going to be in the rotation and he could start,” hinting that he would rather wait until Dragic returns to move Waiters into the starting five. Dragic and Waiters formed a nice chemistry in their first season together in 2016-17, calling themselves “7-Eleven” because of their uniform numbers.
There are still tough rotation decisions in front of Spoelstra even after Wednesday’s trade, especially when Dragic returns from right knee surgery at some point after the All-Star break. The Heat is also hopeful forward Derrick Jones Jr. will return in March from his bruised knee.
But the Ellington situation, which Spoelstra called “the most challenging, most difficult maybe of my entire career,” is gone. Ellington had fallen out of rotation and was an active scratch in 15 of the final 20 games of his tenure with the Heat.
And by trading Tyler Johnson, it helps ease Miami’s minutes crunch at guard.
The Heat’s roster now looks like this: Hassan Whiteside, Bam Adebayo, Kelly Olynyk, Udonis Haslem, James Johnson, Jones, Anderson, Winslow, McGruder, Richardson, Wade, Waiters and Dragic.
With Jones and Dragic injured, the Heat’s nine-man rotation for Friday’s game against the Kings is likely to include Whiteside, Adebayo, Olynyk, Johnson, Winslow, Richardson, Wade, Waiters and McGruder.
“I think we were already developing good role clarification, even as everybody was available,” Spoelstra said when asked if Wednesday’s trade helped stabilize Miami’s rotation. “It didn’t mean there weren’t tough decisions. But I’m sure this will simplify things, definitely on this road trip.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2019 at 10:12 PM.
