Category: Miami Heat Blog

Mickell Gladness Has a confusing name

The Miami Heat announced today that they have signed center Mickell Gladness to a 10-day contract. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gladness appeared in six games with the Heat this season, after previously being signed by Miami on December 10, 2011, totaling two points, eight rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block in 21 minutes of action while connecting on his only shot from the field before being waived on February 7, 2012. Prior to that stint, Gladness was signed by the Heat on September 27, 2010, playing in two games on the Heat’s 2010 summer league squad, totaling eight points, five rebounds, two steals and a block in 28:53 minutes of action while shooting 2-of-4 from the field and 4-of-5 from the foul line before being waived on October 11, 2010.

Gladness, a member of the 2010 NBA Development League Champion Rio Grande Valley Vipers, has appeared in 81 career NBA D-League games (20 starts) and averaged 4.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.41 blocks and 13.9 minutes while shooting 57 percent from the field and 60.7 percent from the foul line.

During his collegiate career, Gladness appeared in 85 games (83 starts) at Alabama A&M and averaged 7.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.66 blocks and 26.8 minutes. He was named as the SWAC Defensive Player of the Year while also earning All-SWAC First Team honors in both his junior and senior seasons. He finished his junior season with 188 total blocks, the third most in NCAA history, including a game in which he set a new NCAA single-game record after blocking 16 shots vs. Texas Southern on Feb. 24, 2007.

The Miami HEAT announced today that they have request waivers on center Mickell Gladness.

Gladness appeared in six games with the HEAT this season totaling two points, eight rebounds, a steal and a block in 21 minutes of action. He was signed in is second stint with the HEAT as a free agent on December 10, 2011. He was previously signed by Miami on September 27, 2010 before being waived on October 11, 2010.

LeBron James Has talents

LeBron James has plenty of dazzling slams so far this season.

Wednesday, he chose not to slam the door on participating in the All-Star Slam Dunk contest in two weeks in Orlando.

“I have thought about it before and a few times in the past I kind of had an ankle injury that kind of kept me out of it and a couple of times I was just like, ‘You know what, I’m going to go in here and rest my legs for this weekend and then get back to the regular season,” James said. “But, I mean, they say a lot of the greats have done it and I’ve watched it over the years.”

A lot of the greats – Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Clyde Drexler – have, and All-Star talents Vince Carter, Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin have participated in recent years.

— Reported by Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post

Read NBA fan opinion and share your views in this basketball forum topic.

Heat guard Dwyane Wade will not play Tuesday against San Antonio because of a sprained right ankle.

Wade has been dealing with at least three lower-leg injuries in recent weeks, and sprained the ankle late in Miami’s loss on Friday at Denver. He also has been battling a sore left foot and a strained calf muscle.

Tuesday’s game will be the fourth Wade has missed this season. Miami won all three of the previous contests without the 2006 NBA finals MVP, who turned 30 on Tuesday.

— Reported by the Associated Press

The good news out of the Heat’s full-contact practice on Monday was that Mike Miller and Eddy Curry made their long-awaited returns to the court. The bad news was that Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers did not practice.

Wade’s foot injury, more serious than initially believed, is taking time to heal. He is questionable for both Tuesday’s game against Golden State and Wednesday’s game against the Clippers.

“I would love for it to be [Tuesday],’’ Wade said of his return. “I would love for it to be Wednesday. I don’t know. I’m just trying to be smart.

“I wanted to play the other night against New Jersey. If it was up to me, I would have played, but in Miami we make sure we all come together and put our heads together and see what’s the best for the team and for the player.”

Wade, who said his game status is “hour to hour; minute to minute,” is clearly frustrated with his slow progress and the mysterious pain in his left heel. More disconcerting is the root of the problem. Wade couldn’t offer an exact ailment but didn’t rule out plantar fasciitis.

— Reported by Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald

While warming up for Wednesday’s night, Joel Anthony received some surprising news: he’s one of four Heat players on the East All-Star ballot, along with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

“I didn’t think they were serious,” Anthony said.

Anthony’s not a serious candidate, of course, not with Orlando’s Dwight Howard on the ballot.

Yet the panel of four media members needed 12 centers in the guard-heavy Eastern Conference, and chose one from all but three teams – Toronto (with Andrea Bargnani listed as center), Boston (reduced to a broken Jermaine O’Neal) and New Jersey (which just lost Brook Lopez for several weeks).

— Reported by Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post Blog

Heat guard Dwyane Wade has two problems: A sore left foot and a jammed game schedule.

So he decided that taking a game off was his smartest option.

After battling the foot issue for a week with limited success, Wade sat out for the first time this season when Miami played host to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. Wade played both ends of a back-to-back on Sunday and Monday, got extensive treatment on Tuesday, but did not see enough improvement to merit playing against Indiana — especially since Miami starts a five-game road swing at Atlanta on Thursday.

“As much as I want to be out there, my team needs me to be Dwyane Wade and not somebody else on the floor,” Wade said after sitting out Miami’s shootaround Wednesday morning.

— Reported by the Associated Press