CHICAGO – As a starting forward, Haywood Highsmith has been a revelation for the Miami Heat this month. As a playoff contributor, Caleb Martin was a revelation for the Heat last spring.
Yay.
And nay.
Because in the NBA, all good things come with a price.
The Heat will get another example of that Wednesday night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, when they visit the Cleveland Cavaliers . . . and Max Strus on Thanksgiving eve.
Then, at the turn of the calendar, the Heat’s New Year’s trip will take them to a visit against the Los Angeles Lakers . . . and Gabe Vincent.
Both developed in the cocoon of the Heat. Both spread their wings in the playoffs. Both took flight in free agency.
Which brings it back to Highsmith and Martin and a reminder that in the NBA you only can have so many good things — even if you help cultivate those good things.
Highsmith is scheduled to become a restricted free agent on July 1.
Martin has a player option to also move into free agency this summer.
They will hit the market at a point when the NBA’s new collective-bargaining agreement becomes even more onerous to teams in the luxury tax, something that likely will be an issue for the Heat even with Kyle Lowry’s $29.7 million on the final year of his contract coming off the books.
Because for next season there still will be on the books Jimmy Butler’s $48.8 million, Bam Adebayo’s $34.8 million, Tyler Herro’s $29 million and Duncan Robinson’s $19.4 million.
Yes, rosters change. Yes, deals are possible at the Feb. 8 NBA trading deadline or around the June 27 NBA draft to change that math.
But what last summer with Vincent and Strus showed is there are limits with complementary pieces.
Even with essential complementary pieces, as Vincent and Strus stood, and as Highsmith and Martin now stand.
To Heat President Pat Riley, it’s almost as if the Heat are penalized for prioritizing development. At some point, it’s as if they invest and other teams profit.
“That’s something that should have been discussed in the CBA, with one, two, three, maybe four years where you can have a tax credit or something for developing players,” Riley told the Sun Sentinel. “I can only talk about ideas. We’ve talked about it.”
While many of the Heat’s developmental projects have failed to gain traction elsewhere — Kendrick Nunn with the Lakers stands as a recent example — poaching nonetheless has become problematic.
So, yes, the Heat are aware of the decisions looming with Highsmith and Martin.
“We’ve got a lot of good, young players,” Riley said. “What happens with these players next year depends on the kind of years that they have.”
The Heat made a pitch of four years at $34 million to Vincent. He signed with the Lakers for $33 million over three.
With Strus, there was no counteroffer; he left for $62.3 million over four years with the Cavaliers.
With Vincent and Strus, it wasn’t until the playoff run that their stocks truly skyrocketed.
With Highsmith and Martin, the Heat should have a better read on the league’s thinking by the trading deadline.
Either way, outside of the Clippers and Steve Ballmer, the Suns and Matt Ishbia, and perhaps the Warriors (although they appear to be paying closer focus to the luxury-tax math), it has become a leaguewide decision.
Decisions the Heat had to make with Vincent and Strus.
Decisions that eventually will be forthcoming with Martin and Highsmith, unless salary is shed elsewhere.
To Heat General Manager Andy Elisburg, it all is part of the ongoing dance as the NBA rolls out new collective-bargaining agreements, such as the one put in place this season.
“I don’t look at it what it doesn’t let you do,” he told Sirius/XM’s NBA Radio. “I look at what it does, and find the things that you’re able to do and how you’re able to maximize the things that you’re able to do. And where the things that force you to have to make choices on, then we just have to make choices.
“And that’s no different than any other CBA you have, where it forces you to make certain kinds of choices to the different things you can do. I think it still gives you flexibility to put together a great team. I think it still gives you plenty of flexibility to take care of your best players. But there are other places where you’re going to have to make choices what it is you have to do.”
AND ANOTHER ONE: When the Heat play next weekend at Barclays Center against the Brooklyn Nets, it will be the fourth meeting between the teams in just over a month, when including a preseason matchup. The question next time around is whether the Nets will have to contend with Butler. The game in Brooklyn is on the second night of a back-to-back set after the Heat play the New York Knicks on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. Because the Knicks game is part of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, it essentially is mandatory attendance under the league’s new Player Participation Policy, which threatens penalties to teams that rest players during tournament games or nationally televised games, of which Friday is both. Butler has yet to play in both ends of either of the Heat’s previous two back to backs, missing one game for rest, one for a personal reason. A Butler absence hardly would be dissuaded by the Nets, who were scored on for 36 points by Butler in the Heat’s 122-115 victory Thursday at Kaseya Center. “We tried it all,” coach Jacque Vaughn said of the Nets’ defense in that game. “We blitzed him. We changed our matchups. We did a little bit of everything. But you give him credit. He’s seen these situations before.”
FOND MEMORIES: Despite playing only 63 of his 500-plus career NBA games with the San Antonio Spurs, Heat guard Josh Richardson retains fond memories of coach Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs, who honored Richardson with a tribute before last Sunday’s matchup. “He was like the old guy on our team,” Popovich said of Richardson, who was 29 during his Spurs stint. “He wasn’t that old, but compared to everybody else on the team he was like their father. He was great fun, a great teammate.”
RESPECT WON: It didn’t take long for Strus to earn respect with the Cleveland Cavaliers after his offseason departure from the Heat. Count Cleveland guard Darius Garland as already fully sold. “That boy is nasty,” Garland told Cleveland.com. “He brings a tenacity and toughness. He’s a real basketball player. I thought when he came in, he was just a spot shooter, but he reads the game well, plays well with our bigs and helps me and (Donovan Mitchell). He’s a really good piece to our puzzle. He fits in really well.” The Heat play Wednesday in Cleveland.
NO MERCY RULE: As the Heat find themselves against shorthanded opponents, with the Hornets particularly debilitated this past week, the Nets lacking Ben Simmons on Thursday night, and Chicago’s ongoing absence of Lonzo Ball, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra sees no place for a mercy rule of thought. “We had a couple games this year where we’ve had guys out, and I don’t think Milwaukee or Minnesota showed any mercy to us and nobody really cared and nobody even remembers that we didn’t have guys in those games,” he said. “It’s still ultimately whether you can get the win or not.”
3. Heat players who have played all 12 minutes of a fourth quarter at least five times this season: Jaime Jaquez Jr., Bam Adebayo and Josh Richardson.
