Q: So Tyler Herro is out again? Tell me he’s not going to start when he returns. – Carl.
A: Remember, Tyler Herro did not start the last time he returned, so there’s that. Plus, we still don’t know when Tyler is returning, again listed as out for Wednesday night against the Magic (and considering the Magic game starts a run of four games in five nights, we could be talking next week for Tyler, or beyond). But when there is the return, I would suspect it might not be as simple as one game off the bench and then back into the lineup. Then again, it has seemed all season that as soon as one comes back, one goes to the bench. So as Erik Spoelstra might say, no need for the hypotheticals at the moment.
Q: Ira, how bad is the Niko Jovic extension looking right now? He has been absolutely awful. Don’t you think that the sample size is large enough to know what they’ve got? With his extension, he may be very hard to offload, unless another team can be fooled into thinking there is potential that has value. Looks like the Godfather made a mistake. – Rick, Plantation.
A: Awful is a bit overstated, and the extension does not kick in until next season. Sometimes you have to gamble on a payoff from the skillset. The skillset is there with Nikola Jovic. Whether it ever is maximized? Then again, that’s why the extension is for mid-level money, essentially not even for starter money.
Q: When is it time for Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley realizing that they need to lose lots of games? Do they not see we are smashed into the mud of mediocrity? Is it not stupid to continue playing this hard to achieve exactly what? – Jerry, Miami.
A: When? A quarter past never. If you are going to be a fan or follower of the Heat, then there has to be the acceptance, or at least acknowledgement, that there will be no tanking, no posturing for a top lottery pick, just like fans of the Marlins have to understand that if they ever develop an All-Star, they soon enough will trade said player.