What’s in store for the Miami Heat this week as part of the NBA’s restart plan? A rundown
As COVID-19 cases in Florida surpassed the 100,000 mark Monday, the NBA began an important week in its attempt to restart the 2019-20 season in late July at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
All players were required to return to their team’s market by Monday for mandatory COVID-19 testing for players and staff that begins Tuesday, according to the NBA’s 113-page health and safety manual sent to teams last week. For the Miami Heat, all 17 players on the roster are in South Florida, with forward Solomon Hill the final one to return to Miami last week after spending most of the league shutdown in the Los Angeles area.
Once in market, players are expected to remain at home and only leave for workouts/treatment at the team facility, socially distanced outdoor workouts or for essential activities.
What does this all mean, with the Heat still more than two weeks from its arrival at the Disney site in Lake Buena Vista for the July 30 restart of the season? Note: Miami plans to travel to the Disney complex by bus on July 9, at which point it will enter the league’s bubble.
The Heat’s voluntary individual workouts continue at its AmericanAirlines Arena practice facility, with teams not able to host group sessions like team practices, scrimmages and pickup games until arriving at Disney for the start of training camp during the second week of July. Miami began allowing players to participate in individual workouts at the team facility on May 13, and attendance from players has been very strong, according to a league source.
Voluntary individual workouts remain under strict NBA guidelines this week, with no more than four players permitted at the facility at any one time and workouts limited to one player per basket. But teams are taking an important step forward this week: Head coaches can begin working with players in voluntary workouts on Tuesday, a league source confirmed, with workouts limited to assistant coaches and/or player development personnel until this week.
Starting July 1, individual workouts can be made mandatory by teams and up to eight players will be allowed in the facility at any one time.
When it comes to mandatory COVID-19 testing for players and staff that begins Tuesday, a test will be repeated every other day. Temperature and symptom checks will be conduced each day the team conducts a COVID-19 test and each day the individual player or staff member is at the facility for a workout.
Also this week, the NBA’s one-week transaction window begins. Starting at 12 p.m. on Tuesday and ending at 11:59 p.m. on June 30, all 30 teams can waive players, sign players to rest-of-season contracts and convert a player from a two-way contract to a standard deal.
Because of the 48-hour waiver period, teams need to waive players by 5 p.m. Sunday.
Those who have played in the NBA or G League this season and were not under contract this season with a professional team outside of the United States are eligible to sign rest-of-season contracts during the one-week window. Among the players available who fit this criteria are center DeMarcus Cousins, guard Jamal Crawford, guard Trey Burke and former Heat guard Tyler Johnson.
Although the Heat has enough room below the hard cap to sign a player, any potential addition during the next week would need to be a two-part move because Miami doesn’t have an open roster spot. With the Heat at the league maximum of 15 players under standard contracts and two players under two-way contracts, it would need to release a player to create an opening on its roster.
Any player added would also only have the opportunity for about three weeks of team practices before games begin, which is another factor to consider when weighing whether to release a player who has been on the roster to add a new player just for the remainder of the season.
Wednesday is another important day this week. Players who choose not to participate in the restart of the season are asked to notify their teams no later than Wednesday.
The NBA is allowing players to opt out of the bubble plan and they will not be penalized for staying home, but those players will not be paid for missed games unless they are ruled to be an excused or protected player because they are in risk categories for COVID-19.
There has not been significant pushback from the 17 players on the Heat’s roster on returning to complete the season, according to league sources, with most players already indicating they want to play when games resume at Disney.
“We’re the Miami Heat. I don’t think anybody is going to sit out,” Bam Adebayo said to a group of local reporters last week. “I think we’re built for situations like this because we work so hard and we push our bodies to be the best. But I don’t think anybody is going into this like, ‘I don’t want to play.’ Because we don’t have a lot of guys that can literally sit out, if you know what I mean. We don’t have a lot of guys like that.”
With 22 teams participating in the resumption of the season in a fanless quarantine-type environment at Disney, each team will play eight “seeding games” starting on July 30 that will be added to their current regular-season records to determine the final standings and the postseason is set to begin on Aug. 17. Currently with the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference at 41-24, the Heat has already clinched a spot in the playoffs.
The season has been suspended since March 11.
GABE VINCENT NAMED G LEAGUE’S MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
Heat two-way contract guard Gabe Vincent was named the 2019-20 NBA G League Most Improved Player on Monday, in a vote of the league’s head coaches and general managers.
Vincent, 24, was signed by the Heat in January after it released Daryl Macon from his two-way deal. Vincent began the season with the Sacramento Kings’ G League affiliate, the Stockton Kings.
In his second NBA G League season, the 6-3 guard averaged 20.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 31 games. He made an NBA G League-high 4.2 three-pointers per game and shot 40.3 percent from three-point range.
Vincent, who is eligible to play in this season’s playoffs at Disney, has appeared in six NBA games for Miami this season. Under normal circumstances, two-way contract players aren’t eligible for the postseason unless they are converted to a standard deal.
▪ Fox Sports Sun announced it will replay important Heat victories from this season as the restart of the NBA nears. The campaign started Monday with the Heat’s season-opening win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Replays, in chronological order, will be shown four nights a week.
The Heat’s Oct. 26 overtime road win over the Milwaukee Bucks will be replayed Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 3:17 PM.
