Butler out. The added importance of Heat’s current seed. And Herro makes important change.
Heat star Jimmy Butler has been ruled out for Monday’s game against Sacramento with right hip soreness, the team announced before the 5 p.m. home game against the Kings.
Butler’s injury was the result of wear and tear, not any specific incident, according to the team. It does not sound like the injury will cause a lengthy absence.
“A couple days of treatment will serve him really well,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He came in early [Monday] to see how his body could respond to some treatment... We’ve proven we are able to put together a game that’s good enough regardless. We have enough. We have some depth. Guys are starting to play more comfortably with bigger responsibilities.”
Derrick Jones Jr. is starting in Butler’s place. It’s the 32nd career start for Jones and second this season.
The Heat is 3-2 when Butler doesn’t play this season. He missed the first three games of the season because of the birth of his daughter and missed two other games with injuries.
HEAT NOTES
A six-pack of Miami Heat notes on a Monday:
▪ The Heat entered Monday’s game against Sacramento standing second in the East — by one game ahead of No. 3 Toronto — and in both conferences, the second spot is taking on added significance this season.
The second seed always carries some significance because it assures homecourt advantage in the first two rounds of the postseason. But it’s even more important this season because in both conferences, there appears to be a clear drop-off after the sixth seed, and the team with the second seed will play the seventh seed.
In the East, the second seed almost assuredly will play Orlando or Brooklyn, while the team finishing third or fourth would have a first-round series with a much tougher opponent among Miami, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia or an Indiana team that will get Victor Olapido back later this month.
In the West, the second seed would be on track to play Oklahoma City, while the third seed figures to play Dallas, Houston or perhaps Utah.
In the East, just two games separate the third seed (Miami) and the sixth seed (Philadelphia). The Heat is eight games behind top-seeded Milwaukee.
▪ While Memphis point guard Ja Morant has emerged as the front-runner for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award, it’s easy to envision Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro finishing in the top half dozen in voting if they maintain this pace.
And Nunn — who has been second in rookie scoring behind Morant for much of the season — believes he remains among the top tier of candidates, which is clearly the case.
“That is definitely something I would love to achieve,” he said of winning Rookie of the Year.
“I don’t actively look at [stats of the other rookies] but I come across it sometimes scrolling through my social media or see numbers or stuff like that,” Nunn said. “I read them but it’s not a main focus for me.”
Herro, for his part, believes his credentials also stack up.
“We’re both deserving of Rookie of the Year,” he said recently. “We’re happy for each other. Some nights it might be his night, some nights it might be my night.”
Nunn is second among NBA rookies in scoring at 16 points per game, behind only Morant (17.9 points).
Nunn said he’s being recognized more and more in South Florida. “Over the past couple months, it’s been growing. Everywhere I go they congratulate me and want to take pictures.”
▪ Herro and Nunn are both in very good shape, but Herro - who turned 20 on Monday - recently hired a personal chef to make sure it remains that way. She began working for him at the start of the year.
“I didn’t want to spend too much money on going to dinner every night, ordering food to go,” he said.
“I want to be able to put the right food in my body to give me energy throughout the season. She is going to give me the right food, chicken, food that’s easy to digest. She will come by every day I’m in Miami with breakfast, lunch, dinner. Hopefully I’ll see some results. No more junk food or fast food restaurants for me.”
Nunn, for his part, has made one significant change to his diet.
“I used to eat cheesecake after every meal,” he said. “At every restaurant, I [had] to have dessert. I’ll eat some but not as much now. I cut it down to half, more than half, actually.”
According to Duncan Robinson, the Heat requires players to weigh themselves every 10 days or so, with body fat also checked.
That’s uncommon in the NBA. Kelly Olynyk said the Celtics never regularly weighed players.
“It holds us accountable,” Robinson said.
▪ Olynyk’s erratic playing time could have two effects: It could motivate him to bypass the $13.6 million player option for next season and look for more playing time elsewhere.
Or it could incline him to opt in, knowing he wouldn’t be in the best bargaining position to command a lucrative multiyear deal if he doesn’t play a lot the rest of the way.
If Olynyk opts out, the Heat would have about $100 million in cap commitments even if it renounced Goran Dragic and Meyers Leonard and Derrick Jones Jr., thus canceling out their Bird Rights (which would be an unlikely move). With the cap projected for $118 million next season, an Olynyk opt out would not create the room for the Heat to add a max player in a very weak free agent class.
▪ Agent Tony Dutt of Vanguard Sports smartly requested that the Heat must inform Chris Silva within a few days after the end of the 2020-21 season whether his $1.8 million non-guaranteed team option for 2021-22 will be picked up, and the Heat agreed to that.
Often, young players without guaranteed contracts don’t need to be informed until June 30 or after summer league or later. This way, a decision will need to be made quickly, and Silva will know where he stands. His $1.6 million next season is guaranteed.
▪ Should Jimmy Butler be taking three-pointers late in close games, considering he’s shooting 26.5 percent on all threes this season (26 for 98)?
On one hand, Butler is shooting just 3 for 16 on clutch threes, which is 18.8 percent, with clutch defined as the final five minutes of games with a margin of five points or fewer. But he has drawn a lot of fouls on late game shots (including a couple of threes) and is shooting 26 for 37 (70.3) on clutch free throws.
Among Heat players who play the most, Butler’s overall 32.6 shooting percentage in the clutch is ahead of Nunn (3 for 10) and Dragic (3 for 11) but behind Bam Adebayo (11 for 19), Herro (10 for 19) and Robinson (5 for 10).
This story was originally published January 20, 2020 at 11:05 AM.
