Miami Heat has options at point guard
The Heat expects Mario Chalmers to miss two weeks, possibly a bit longer, with a sprained right knee, but team president Pat Riley said Sunday he has no plans to sign another point guard.
If he misses two weeks, Chalmers would be sidelined for seven games. The Heat has 12 regular-season games remaining over 3½ weeks.
Chalmers, who had to be carried to the locker room after he sustained the injury Saturday against Denver, was able to walk without a problem at Sunday’s Heat Family Festival. He was wearing a brace on the knee.
“It isn’t anything serious,” he said. “I’ll be re-evaluated in a week. I’ll definitely be back by the playoffs and maybe the last couple games of the regular season.”
Chalmers said he sustained the injury after Denver’s Ty Lawson attempted a jump shot late in the first quarter.
“His leg kicked my knee,” he said. “It was very frightening. I didn’t know what had happened.”
Mike Bibby will replace Chalmers in the starting lineup, and coach Erik Spoelstra said Dwyane Wade and LeBron James “obviously will be handling the ball quite a bit, as they have been, but Mike Miller will handle, too. And Eddie House now will step in and take up some of those minutes.”
Riley said “we do feel like we have enough depth to make up for” Chalmers’ absence.
“Maybe coach can play Eddie a little bit more, and James Jones [is available],” Riley said. “And we have two primary ball-handlers in Dwyane and LeBron. So they can handle it.”
In 10 games with the Heat, Bibby has 20 assists, eight turnovers and shot 46.8 percent from the field and 45.7 percent on three-pointers (16 for 35). He’s averaging 6.2 points but played more than 26 minutes only once before logging 34 on Saturday.
“Mike’s great — when he gets the ball, he gets off it if he sees me and LeBron streaking up the floor,” Wade said. “When he gets it back, he’s able to run offense.
“Very good shooter. Most importantly, veteran guy. Very smart. He’s going to be big for us in the playoffs.”
Bibby said his biggest challenge has been learning the Heat’s defensive philosophy, which differs from the system he played under in Atlanta.
“He’s picked it up quicker than most,” Spoelstra said. “He still has a ways to go. … It will be a seamless transition for him to step into the starting lineup.”
Wade and James reiterated they have no objection to playing point guard during stretches.
“We’re fine with it,” Wade said. “To start the game, I think we both appreciate the point guard because it’s an opportunity to play off the ball, catch the ball with a live dribble, but we also like to get on the ball and make plays and attack from the top.”
James pointed out, “I’ve played every position on this team this year.”
Riley’s view
Riley, meanwhile, was upbeat as he spoke before the team’s annual charity event on Watson Island.
“The game is good on the court — they’re winning,” he said. “Everyone is getting excited about a month from now that something good is going to start.”
Riley said the relentless focus on his team “has had somewhat of an effect on everybody because it is a story that’s fatiguing. Some of the things that have been written have been derogatory and you have to deal with it every day. I would just like to have the team be able to play games in a normal circumstance and normal press coverage. This has been a little bit over the top.”
But he said the attention “is subsiding now. I don’t follow the circus. Now we need to replenish the troops and get ready for the playoffs.”
Scouting trip
Riley and Heat vice president/player personnel Chet Kammerer scouted 10 NCAA Tournament games last week. The Heat has no first-round pick in the June draft but has Minnesota’s second-round selection from the Michael Beasley trade.
“We feel [that] pick, 31 or 32 or wherever it might be, is going to be a pretty good pick,” Riley said. “We saw a lot of players that have some potential. We’re going to accumulate the assets over the next couple of years.
“Next year [2012], we’ll be able to use our first-round pick. Anybody that we do draft and put them in the environment with Dwyane, [Chris Bosh] and LeBron, they will raise their level of play.”
Wade joked last week that Riley wasn’t at a Heat game because he was off watching potential second-round picks. Riley laughed when that comment was relayed.
Replied Riley, in jest: “When they come to me and say, ‘Coach we need some help.’ No you don’t. We gave all that help away to be able to get you here.”
