Dru Smith details journey to two-way deal with Heat: ‘There were definitely some tough days’
Just a few months ago, Dru Smith wasn’t sure what the next step in his basketball career would look like. In fact, Smith was just looking to take a step without pain after undergoing surgery on his knee in February.
“I think the plan was always to keep playing,” Smith said to the Miami Herald when asked if he ever considered stepping away from the sport during the rehab process. “There were definitely days that I was like, ‘Man, this is tough.’ Because I’m back home, it’s just hard to kind of see the end of the rehab and all that stuff down the road. So there were definitely some tough days. But I think I always knew I was going to come back and play.”
Good thing for the Heat and Smith, the 24-year-old guard did continue playing.
Because eight months after knee surgery, Smith had his Exhibit 10 contract converted to a two-way deal with the Heat just days before the start of the regular season. He’s one of 16 players on the Heat’s roster, which includes the team’s two two-way contract players.
“I think it represents a step in the right direction,” Smith said of his two-way deal ahead of the Heat’s matchup against the Boston Celtics on Friday night at FTX Arena. “Just the fact that I’m making strides and I’m improving. I think that’s what it represents more than anything. Just that the work that I’ve been putting in, it’s paid off right now.”
Two-way contracts do not count toward the salary cap or luxury tax and allow for players to be on their NBA team’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games, with other game action having to come in the G League. Those on two-way deals are not eligible to take part in the NBA playoffs.
Smith earned the promotion with a strong preseason, averaging 7.4 points while shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from three-point range, 2.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in five preseason appearances.
“I think I’ve probably grown the most offensively just shooting the ball a lot better than I was last year and just playing with more confidence,’ said Smith, who went undrafted last year out of Missouri. “Making the right reads and things like that. But also just a lot more comfortable, more than anything, than I was last year. Just understanding the system and how they like to run things.”
Smith has a history with the Heat, as he also spent summer league and training camp with the organization last year. He then played in 10 games for the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, last season before suffering his season-ending knee surgery.
Even after that time with Miami, he wasn’t sure if the team would welcome him back into its developmental program following his injury.
“A lot of the time during the summer, I was just working and there were definitely days where I felt like I was just going to the gym and had no clue why, really,” Smith said. “Just to continue to get better, but I didn’t know where I was going to be.”
But after accepting a late invite to join the Heat’s summer league team for a second straight year, Smith impressed enough to earn another spot on the training camp roster before flashing enough improvement to get one of Miami’s two-way deals.
“I would have been surprised just because of where I was,” Smith said when asked if he thought a two-way contract this soon after surgery was a realistic possible while he was rehabbing. “Coming off of injury, I had only played maybe 10 games last year. I think I kind of had a couple things stacked against me coming out of last season, just coming out of surgery and all that.”
In Wednesday’s Heat opener, though, Smith found himself on the active roster for an NBA game for the first time in his life. It’s a milestone that he still hasn’t had time to truly appreciate yet, but he will eventually.
“I know my wife and my mom, they both talked about it,” Smith said. “I think you’re just in the moment and you’re just kind of living it and you’re not really taking that second to step back and kind of appreciate it all. I’m sure one day we’ll look back and it will definitely be a big deal.”
MEMORIES
With longtime NBA official Tony Brown passing away on Thursday at 55 years old following a battle with pancreatic cancer, Heat center Bam Adebayo remembers Brown as a referee who “never let us get under his skin.”
“Through all the 50-50 calls and us blowing up about it and intense moments, he was one of those referees I could go up to and say it with emotion but he wouldn’t take it that way,” Adebayo said ahead of Friday’s game against the Celtics. “... That’s the thing, we could blow up and have our moment because we’re human. If we think that’s a bad call, we got the right to express ourselves. Some referees get offended by it. Tony was one of those guys I could blow up and he would be like, ‘Look, from my angle it was a foul.’ He kept it cool, calm and collected. So for me, man, I’m sad he’s gone and I send my condolences to his family.”
Brown officiated 1,110 regular-season games and 35 playoff games in 20 seasons as an NBA staff official.
▪ The Heat will again be without guard Victor Oladipo (left knee tendinosis) and center Omer Yurtseven (left ankle impingement) on Friday against the Celtics. They both also missed the Heat’s season-opening loss to the Bulls on Wednesday.
No other Heat player is on the injury report for Friday’s game.
The Celtics will be without forward Danilo Gallinari (left knee ACL repair) and center Robert Williams (left knee surgery).
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 1:14 PM.
