The Miami Heat might be up to their knees in luxury tax, but that is not stopping the champions from making key roster moves this offseason. As of now, the team has 13 guaranteed contracts for next season. They have the rights to Jarvis Varnado, leaving one open roster spot should they decide to max out. After one signing over of the weekend, the next few weeks could see at least one player released and another signed.
Miami knew they needed to add a few big men. That was possibly the one weakness the team held last season. They lacked productive size, causing major matchup issues. They re-signed Chris Andersen to a new contract and signed Greg Oden over the weekend. With that signing, the Heat are considering the release of big man, Joel Anthony.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that after addition of Oden, the Heat are looking to move Anthony's contract which still has two seasons remaining on it. Getting rid of the contract would reduce the luxury tax bill. Anthony is on the books for $3.8 million, holding a player option in the final year. Miami would prefer to get rid of the salary since Oden is now costing Miami $2.6 million.
Anthony has been rather useless with the emergence of players like Andersen and Mike Miller who is no longer with the team. He averaged 9.1 minutes per game last season and was a non-factor during the NBA Finals where he got on the court just 15 minutes total in the seven games.
Miami still has one roster spot to fill up if they so choose. The team would like to add another veteran to the lineup and have set their sights on Sebastian Telfair as a possibility. The goal is to bring in someone that could play reduced minutes in order to offer relief to the starters. Telfair could be perfect.
HoopsWorld.com reports that the veteran point guard is a possibility. Telfair played half of the season with the Phoenix Suns before getting traded to the Toronto Raptors. He is a nine-year veteran that is still relatively productive. In his career, he has averaged 7.4 points and 3.5 assists in 21.6 minutes per game. Last season he averaged 16.6 minutes per game.
The Heat are not done making moves. It is likely they will max out their roster so the signing of Telfair could happen quickly. If there is interest in Anthony, the team will dump him and his roster, but that all depends on the current market.