Miami's Haslem has torn ligament in foot

[rondohondo]

An MRI performed Sunday on Miami's leading rebounder confirmed he tore a ligament in his left foot during the fourth quarter of a loss in Memphis on Saturday night. When Haslem went down, he immediately began pointing to the inside of his left foot, and was quickly helped into the locker room.

He will see a specialist on Monday, and surgery -- which could keep him out months instead of weeks -- remains an option. The Heat said they expect to have more information on Monday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/news/story?id=5836434

that hurts the heat big time

[indeedproceed]

That is a big deal. Miami's interior defense just got softer than..something really soft.

[rondohondo]

That is a big deal. Miami's interior defense just got softer than..something really soft.

Yea I would imagine they are definitely going to sign Dampier now. There are really no other big men out there.

[indeedproceed]

That is a big deal. Miami's interior defense just got softer than..something really soft.

Yea I would imagine they are definitely going to sign Dampier now. There are really no other big men out there.

I don't even know if Dampier cures that issue. They can't play Damp next to Big Z, Haslem was their best pick and roll defender, and Dampier doesn't improve that at all.

The other issue is that Miami can only offer a minimum contract. Teams like Houston have more playing time, a more defined role, and I *believe* more money to offer, since they didn't offer Brad Miller the full MLE.

[Fafnir]

Huge, huge loss for the Heat if he misses a lot of time.

[More Banners]

That is a big deal. Miami's interior defense just got softer than..something really soft.

Downey soft?

Their best bets are probably playing in China and Turkey right now.  That says something...  James Singleton and Dwayne Jones for a PF and C...defender/rebounders.  And frankly, nothing Iverson could do would make this team any worse than they are, and if he helps, it would be one of those great NBA comeback stories.

On a serious note, we should all give props to Danny for recognizing role players with the right fit around stars in a roster.  But Haslem and Mike Miller, healthy, would make a big difference, I think.

[PosImpos]

Haslem out until the All-Star break.  Wow.

The Heat can't get any lucky breaks this year.

Almost...almost...makes me feel sorry for them.  But I don't.

[mgent]

This is great.  2 of Miami's top 5 players are out.  They've already got Joel Anthony starting, and their first wing and big off the bench is James Jones and Big Z (none of which are that reliable).  If any of those 3 get hurt, or even worse one of their big 3, they're gonna have to rely on either Stackhouse or Howard/Magloire to be the first off the bench (except for at PG where they are somewhat deep but have no one good) and play significant minutes for them.

Wow, I hope that happens.

[LooseCannon]

That is a big deal. Miami's interior defense just got softer than..something really soft.

Yea I would imagine they are definitely going to sign Dampier now. There are really no other big men out there.

I don't think it is a given that they will sign Dampier.  Portland is asking for an injury exception for Oden, which will allow them to pay Dampier over $3 million.  The Blazers should want him and he should want to go to a playoff caliber with available minutes which can probably pay him more than any other team that has a good shot of winning its division, right?

[Jeff]

I don't know, with 5 losses to their name - including one recently against the Griz (who are actually improving) I'm starting to wonder how great our wins over the Heat really were.

[Celtics4ever]

Karmic revenge on LeBron when will he get the injury bug, this hurts them bad.

[housecall]

Losing their glue guy is big...somehow i feel they will overcome.We have enough of our own woes to  be concerned about.

[nba is the worst]

I don't know, with 5 losses to their name - including one recently against the Griz (who are actually improving) I'm starting to wonder how great our wins over the Heat really were.

They were great in their demonstration of team play, if nothing else - but it's clear that the Heat won't be able to overcome all the injuries on top of the obvious flaws.

Riley has to sign someone, there's a couple of bigs in the D-league worth a look if they won't play Pittman...