Q; Ira, every pro sports team has its own security department. Should someone at the Heat have known how close this was to happening with Terry Rozier? Or did they know all along and that is why he did not play in the preseason or in Orlando? — Dave.
A: From the start, this was more of an NBA issue than a Miami Heat issue. In fact, if you are looking for or questioning the lack of intel, you have to wonder how the league reportedly did not know about or see any of this coming. To a large degree, the NBA let one of its teams down by not conducting a more thorough investigation. All of that said, we still have to wait for final adjudication with Terry Rozier. Until we know for sure, this could wind up being benign. But yes, in a salary-cap league, one would think that teams would be made aware of any and every possibility. All of that said, considering so much around the Rozier story is related to the NBA injury report, I would find it highly, highly unlikely the Heat would craft an injury report about a hamstring injury if that was not the case. So for now, it was a matter of Terry recovering from that, before sitting out Wednesday night’s season opener by coach’s decision.
Q: Can we get the first-round pick back from Charlotte? – Ed.
A: I believe this would fall very much within the confines of caveat emptor. But again, as mentioned above, this is another case where if the NBA was on the top of its game, this would’ve been handled well in advance of the Heat forwarding a potentially unprotected first-round pick along with Kyle Lowry for Terry in that trade with the Hornets. But the notion of a give-back simply is not one that has been in play in the league. So the ultimate outcome could be no Terry, no pick. That pick to Charlotte could come as soon as the 2027 NBA draft. The bottom line is this is all happening in real time, not at the time of the Hornets-Heat deal.
Q: So Erik Spoelstra gets cover from the feds for not playing Kel’el Ware in Orlando? — Jason.
A: There was plenty of snark in the wake of Thursday’s announcement of the gambling probe’s findings. The reality is, it is ultimately a sad story for Terry Rozier and a career he had hoped to reset. But, yes, now back to a Miami Heat season already one game in progress. So we can pick up where we left off with the Kel’el Ware questions.