Miami Heat: Top Candidates To Fill Their Final Roster Spots

With the long-awaited season just around the corner, and sporting a lineup of 17 men, the Miami Heat have two more players to waive (not including recently cut Jeremy Wise) before they have a standard roster.

You got your Big Two, then Chris Bosh, then Udonis Haslem, Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller, Joel Anthony and newcomer Shane Battier. Norris Cole is pretty much in at the point, as are returning bit players James Jones, Eddie House and Juwan Howard.

It's no secret priority No. 1 from there is adding bodies in the middle, but the Heat also have some choices to make with intriguing talents at other, less pressing positions. The need for bigs is tempered by caution not to overlook a solid talent.

Assuming they also pick up Eddy Curry and Dexter Pittman (which is not yet set in stone,) that leaves Derrick Byars, Mickell Gladness and Terrel Harris vying for the final roster spot. Which of these five guys has the best shot at dodging the axe and filling that final seat on the Miami championship choo-choo?

Derrick Byars

Is this the year Derrick Byars plays his first regular-season NBA game? He's no stranger to being waived at the end of the preseason, so Byars knows better than most people that nothing is decided yet with just under a week to go before tipoff.

As of this writing, Byars has played one preseason game and scored 12 points in 14 minutes on 5-of-6 shooting. As far as sneak peeks go, this one can only help his chances of filling that 15th slot.

But is Byars what the Heat really need? Some would call him an indiscriminate shooter (to put it wordily,) and as a 6'7" 2/3-tweener, he doesn't exactly provide a sorely needed service.

Ultimately, his fate on this roster could be determined by how good or bad a showing the Heat's big man prospects have; if neither Pittman nor Gladness is deemed worth a try, the Heat could decide to use their last spot on Byars and keep him for a rainy day.

I doubt Byars would mind how he got it after trying for four years to crack an NBA roster.

Terrel Harris

Like Byars, Harris had a nice outing in the Heat's preseason opener against Orlando. In 27 minutes, he went 4-of-5 from downtown and notched 16 points, leaving Miami with some decisions to make.

As far as three-point shooters, the Heat have plenty as is...unless they're willing to go young and waive one of their current fringe rotation players (perhaps Eddie House...).

He's definitely not going to play any other position than shooting guard if he is picked up, as he's too small for the 3 and too shot-oriented for the point. The Heat already have no shortage of people they can plug in behind Dwyane Wade, so again the question becomes: Do they need him more badly than some of the other roster hopefuls?

Depending on how much they like his game—ESPN.com's Michael Wallace draws a flattering comparison to Anthony Morrow—Harris has long but not impossible odds of being on that bench come Christmas. On the other hand, as is the case with Byars, he may simply fall victim to the Heat's dearth of serviceable pivot men.

Dexter Pittman

If you thought you'd never see the day Eddy Curry wasn't the chunkiest player on the roster, say hello to my big friend. At the moment, it would appear that spot at the end of the bench is his to lose.

If nothing else, Pittman is raw...R-A-W. And no, not the way Big Daddy Kane meant—just unpolished. His conditioning is an issue, as there are doubts as to how much slimmer he will ever get considering he's already shed close to 100 pounds since high school.

If he ever got some real playing time, some people might be pleasantly surprised at his ability to create space and finish around the basket. Still, he's riddled with question marks, his game is far from diverse and he would only make the roster to fill the void—and I use the term loosely—left by Erick Dampier, Jamaal Magloire and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

As much as it may pain Heat fans to hear this, Pittman is their second-best center right now behind Joel Anthony. Yikes. Based on the scarcity of options, Pittman looks to be in—unless Mickell Gladness knocks some socks off in the next few days.

So we'll go ahead and call this Gladness' slide too, keeping in mind he has the most remote chance of making the cut with his utter inability to do anything other than block shots.

Eddy Curry

Barring some major setback, Curry is probably going to crack the Heat's rotation if only because they knew what they were getting when they sought him out: a scoring center who doesn't rebound or defend or share.

Yet, for all his deficiencies, and despite the extended hiatus that made people forget, Eddy Curry is no slouch with the ball in his hands, and he will force defenses to account for him. Looking at Curry's career stat sheet, it's safe to say Erik Spoelstra isn't stupid enough to expect other things from him.

Used sparingly, Curry could make a half-decent two-headed center with Joel Anthony, since each player does precisely the things the other can't.

Again, Curry is only attractive to the Heat because they're so desperate for some post scoring that they're prepared to gamble on a black hole who comes with a severely limited traditional center skill set and the promise of periodic bouts of counterproductivity.

One way or another, if the well-known downside of signing Curry hasn't deterred the Heat from courting him thus far, it's probably not going to stop them from hanging onto him for the season.

Free Agency?

There's always the possibility that the Heat will go out and strike a completely unforeseen minimum deal with one more free agent. But who's left in that price range?

Always looking for options at center, aren't they? Last I checked, Ryan Hollins was still on the market, although I don't know what his price tag is. His "Baby Chandler" playing style would take some of the edge off the other guys in the paint.

Maybe Theo Ratliff wants to take one more crack at a ring before he's done...he won't provide many real answers, but I've seen much worse shot-blockers at his advanced age.

Etan Thomas, anyone?

Joel Przybilla? Probably not affordable...the problem is at this point, all the Heat have left to choose from in the middle are minimum-level guys, which will not satisfy anyone going into this season. The best they could do under the circumstances is stock up on a few discount centers and then start tinkering.

The hard truth is that once Battier was signed and their spending money largely spent, Miami officially missed their shot at any legitimate help at the pivot. Not that Battier was a bad pickup; I'm simply pointing out that anyone who expect Miami to get him and a decent big on their budget is trying to have their cake and eat it too.

With so few answers left out there, free agency likely isn't the way any more. And please don't mention Gilbert Arenas...