The Miami Heat reached the NBA's 15-player roster limit Monday, by releasing rookie guards Patrick Beverley and Da'Sean Butler.As a result Mike Miller's freak thumb injury, the Heat went ahead and signed Jerry Stackhouse to add more veteran depth to the roster. What that did was eliminate another spot for a young player to make the 15-man cut, hence Beverly and Butler's departures. It would have been interesting to see which of the two would have earned a spot had Stackhouse not been signed, as it would reveal who Miami believes is more NBA ready.
The cuts mean the final roster will include centers Joel Anthony, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Jamaal Magloire and Dexter Pittman, power forwards Chris Bosh, Udonis Haslem and Juwan Howard, small forwards LeBron James, James Jones and Mike Miller, shooting guards Dwyane Wade, Jerry Stackhouse and Eddie House and point guards Mario Chalmers and Carlos Arroyo.
Beverly and Butler are eligible to sign with any team, with the heat no longer holding their rights. Each received a sizeable guarantee for each of the next two seasons.
Miami now enters the NBA regular season with a total of seven returning players and only two returning starters from their lineup last season. Despite this massive roster overhaul, the team managed to be voted most likely to win the NBA title by Las Vegas oddsmakers in the preseason rankings.
Tuesday night the Heat will kickoff their season at Boston versus the Celtics in an NBA season-opener, which will be televised on TNT at 7:30 PM EST.
No comments:
Post a Comment