Can you believe it?! We are less than 24 hours away from the Miami Heat’s preseason opener against the Orlando Magic in Puerto Rico!
Except, while we (I) were adamant that the Heat’s roster construction was significantly imbalanced, loaded with several guards, they will be without most of their top guards for Saturday’s opener.
Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald reported Friday that five Heat guards — Tyler Herro, Pelle Larsson, Terry Rozier, Davion Mitchell and Kasparas Jakucionis — did not travel with the team.
Chiang’s tweet does not include Dru Smith (achilles recovery).
Herro’s absence was expected after the one-time All-Star underwent foot surgery last week. The others? Not as much, at least heading into the week.
Mitchell did not practice Friday due to calf soreness; Jakucionis did not practice on Thursday or Friday due to a sprained wrist; Rozier missed most of camp with a hamstring injury; Larsson is currently dealing with a quad contusion.
The Heat’s best guard available heading into Saturday will be Norman Powell, who Miami acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers in early July. It could also open up a steady dose of ball-handling opportunities for Heat wing Nikola Jovic, who signed a four-year extension with the team this week.
Outside of them? Miami’s Exhibit 10 guards — Jahmir Young, Ethan Thompson, Trevor Keels — in addition to its two-way guard, Myron Gardner, should get plenty of run. We’ll see how Spoelstra allocates those minutes, but the beauty in all of it is that we get to see how they fare against Orlando’s improved backcourt, sans Jalen Suggs.
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It is frustrating, but probably none of these injuries, except Herro, are long term. Let the kids play and don’t overwork Powell either.
I guess time for point jovic.
Glut of guards two weeks ago, and now this?
Well, that stinks. Who will play pg? Jaquez? Ethan Thompson?
Goddamit. Not even our rookie prospect gets to play.The universe really hate our backcourt for some reason.