MIAMI HEAT CURRENT ROSTER FULL

The Suns still have yet to see their big three of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Durant together for a single minute and have not even had a big two for seven of their 17 games. In some ways, the big-picture perspective on the Suns’ season has hardly changed since then. Those 36 hours still represent the entirety of the Spurs’ regulation wins this season, as well as the last time they won at all. When I last checked in with the Suns, they had pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of losing consecutive home games to the San Antonio Spurs. Miami started 1-4, with the lone win a one-point home escape against the lowly Detroit Pistons. Again, we’re all probably guilty of wanting to overact to the first week. In the case of both teams, it’s amazing the difference a few weeks makes. With the exception of Nassir Little, their bench is made up entirely of minimum-contract guys. This arguably should be a much bigger story than it has been. Similarly, the Suns are thriving despite using a very different lineup than they expected. The road-weary Heat have only had five home games the entire season, but will only leave Florida for one day between now and Christmas unless they have extra In-Season Tournament business.

Miami had won nine of 10 before stumbling twice in New York, including a six-of-seven stretch on the road. Nonetheless, the Heat, as ever, have cobbled together enough workable lineups from two-way contract players, past reclamation projects and assorted people named Robinson to stay afloat in the East playoff race. In addition to Butler and Bam Adebayo each missing three games thus far, Miami has only had Tyler Herro for eight games and Caleb Martin for seven. more on him below) who has been in the lineup for all 17 games. The Heat, for instance, lost in Brooklyn with a skeleton crew Saturday, but still enter Monday with a 10-7 record and a positive net rating despite only having one player (rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. Right now, it’s the difference between teams like Phoenix and Miami, who sit somewhere in the nebulous terrain between surviving and thriving, and others like, say, Memphis or Charlotte, whose second-line players have been brutally exposed under the harsh light of early-season injuries.

MIAMI HEAT CURRENT ROSTER FULL

And while the two visiting teams I saw were far from full strength, both are passing this particular test with flying colors.

Miami heat current roster