Miami Heat Media Day Footage and Training Camp Updates
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The Miami Heat's season is a mere month away.
The Heat open training camp Tuesday at Hurlburt Field and Eglin Air Force base up in northern Florida. Media day kicked off today and there is some video footage below.
I thought the most interesting comment from the following snippet from todayโs press conference was whatย Chris Bosh said about the teamโs outlook next season.
โI think the time leading up to camp a lot of people got it confused,โ said Bosh. โWe came here to play together. We came here to play as a team and I think people are taking the individualism a little bit too much. Werโe all going to be good players, but weโre all going to work togetherโฆItโs going to take guy one through fifteen.โ
Heat Roster Hits 20
The Heat have increased their roster to 20 today with the signings of center Mickell Gladness and forward Anthony Mason Jr. They must get down to a maximum of 15 players by October 25, the day before their opening season matchup against the Celtics in the TD Garden.
Mason Jr.,the son of former Heat player Anthony Mason Sr., played for St. Johns last year averaging 7.3 points and 5.4 rebounds in 19 games. He was on the Heatโs summer league roster but his play was limited due to injury.
Gladness played in the NBA Development League last season and averaged 4.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.23 blocks in 12.7 minutes for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He is a big-time shot-blocker and has excellent length and athleticism.
Both players are extreme long shots to make the final roster.
Pass On Dampier
Also in recent Heat news, the team decided to pass on free agentย Erick Dampier after meeting with him last week. With centers Zydrunas Ilgauskus, Jamaal Magloire, Dexter Pittman, and Joel Anthony currently on the roster, there would have a been a center log jam and one of those players would have been cut.
I would have signed Dampier because he would have given Miami a large defensive presence and a physical force in the paint. They must be satisfied with the improvement of Pittman and Anthony because it seemed like Dampier was very interested.
Below is the current Heat roster and projected depth chartโฆ
PG โ Chalmers โ Arroyo โ Beverley โ Hasbrouck
SG โ Wade โ House โ Butler
SF โ James - Miller โ Jones โ Mason Jr.
PF โ Bosh - Haslem โ Howard โ Randolph โ Gladness
C โ Anthony โ Ilgauskus โ Magloire โ Pittman
