Heat power forward Josh McRoberts will not play in the Heat’s preseason scrimmage on Wednesday night, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the team’s morning training session.
McRoberts had surgery after last season’s playoffs to remove bone spurs in his left great toe. The Heat is being overly cautious to work McRoberts back slowly. He is expected to start at power forward for the Heat this season. McRoberts' recovery process is a concern for the team, but nothing to panic about at this point.
“He has been able to do more each day,” Spoelstra said. “We’re progressing him. We’re trying to be smart about it. We’re still almost 30 days until the first game, so we want to make he’s taking steps forward and not steps back.
“But he had a great summer of the work. The last three weeks he was able to spend here in our facilities and work with our coaches but also get the necessary treatment and work with our training staff.”
McRoberts played well in an expanded role last season for the Charlotte Hornets, and the former Duke standout strengthened his profile and reputation with inspired play against the Heat in the first round of the playoffs. His physical confrontations with LeBron James highlighted the series.
Center Justin Hamilton will also miss Wednesday night’s scrimmage, which begins at 7 p.m. at AmericanAirlines Arena. A live video stream of the scrimmage will be available on Heat.com. Hamilton experienced dizziness due to a heart flutter on Monday and can’t compete in contract drills for at least three weeks.
Other players could sit out of the scrimmage as well.
“We’ll see how everyone is feeling after today’s workout,” Spoelstra said.
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