Jamal Cain working to prove he deserves spot on Heat standard roster: ‘I know I’m an NBA player’
Miami Heat forward Jamal Cain didn’t want this week to be so stressful. Ideally, he would have already been promoted to a standard NBA contract after spending his rookie year last season on a two-way contract with the Heat.
But the reality is, with the start of the regular season just one week away, Cain is still on a two-way deal with the Heat and is still working to prove he deserves to be on the Heat’s standard roster that currently includes only 13 players.
Cain is one of six players on the Heat’s current 19-man preseason roster still competing for the 14th spot on the regular-season standard roster, along with fellow two-way contract players Dru Smith and R.J. Hampton and Exhibit 10 tryout contract players Justin Champagnie, Cheick Diallo and Cole Swider. The Heat could also sign an outside free agent to fill the opening.
“It’s a challenge for me,” Cain said of the wait for the potential promotion, with the Heat playing its fourth of five preseason games on Wednesday night against Brooklyn Nets at Kaseya Center. “It doesn’t change my work ethic. I feel like it amped my work ethic a little higher. No frustration. I know I’m an NBA player. I know I can play at this level, so it’s just a matter of time.”
That time could come in a few days, as NBA teams have a 5 p.m. deadline on Monday to cut rosters to the regular-season maximum of 15 players (not including the three two-way contract slots). But teams will need to make those moves by 5 p.m. Saturday because of the 48-hour waiver period.
The Heat technically has two open slots on its 15-man standard roster for the regular season with only 13 players currently on standard deals, but the expectation is Miami will begin its schedule with 14 players on the standard roster in part because of its luxury tax position. NBA rules prevent teams from carrying fewer than 14 players for any extended stretch during the regular season.
Cain, 24, has worked hard in the Heat’s development program over the past year in an effort to become a player who the team values. He entered the Heat’s system last summer after going undrafted out of Oakland University last year.
“Trying to be a better decision maker with the ball, trying to be a better defender on and off the ball and trying to be more vocal on the court,” Cain said when asked what he focused on during offseason workouts.
With Cain’s combination of athleticism and size at 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds, he has the potential to be a versatile defender who can effectively guard most positions on the court.
But Cain knows his athleticism and frame probably aren’t enough to earn a standard contract in the NBA, so he has spent a lot of time trying to become a reliable three-point shooter since joining the Heat. He estimates he put up between 6,000 and 7,000 three-pointers per week this past offseason, adding that his confidence from three-point range is at an “all-time high” and “I feel like I’m Duncan [Robinson] right now confidence-wise.”
“I would just come up here and just get blacked out and shoot it,” Cain said, referring to his summer three-point work in the Heat’s practice facility at Kaseya Center. “I know everything else besides shooting, I’m pretty good. I can play defense, I can run the floor, I can block shots. But making shots, I feel like that’s a hard thing to do. I just wanted to make sure that it was at a peak level.”
That work has been on display this preseason, as he totaled 38 points while shooting 15 of 23 (65.2 percent) from the field and 7 of 10 (70 percent) from three-point range and 17 rebounds (9 offensive and 8 defensive) over the Heat’s second and third preseason games after not getting into the preseason opener until there was 5:50 left in the fourth quarter.
“He’s gotten much more disciplined with his defense and much better on the weak side,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Cain. “So once his guy gives it up, he still finds ways to impact the defense with his athleticism and awareness.”
“Offensively, that’s a lot of work. He doesn’t have to be a three-point sticker. But, boy, he works on it all the time and learning how to play and be effective without the ball, which is what young players have to transition and kind of shift their mindset: How can they play with different lineups and bring value? A lot of times that’s different than how they played when they were younger. But that’s the deal. The quicker you can figure that out, the better chance you have of making it. But you can see, he’s just gotten a lot better in this last year.”
Among the Heat’s options with Cain by Monday’s NBA regular-season roster deadline are keeping him on a two-way contract, converting his two-way deal to a standard contract to fill one of the vacant spots on its standard roster, or releasing him to make room for another developmental prospect.
Two-way contracts, which pay half the NBA rookie minimum and do not count toward the salary cap or luxury tax, allow for players to be on their NBA team’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games with other game action having to come in the G League. But while two-way deals can be swapped out at any time, standard contracts come with at least partially guaranteed money.
Cain is hoping to prove he deserves to stick around, preferably as part of the Heat’s standard roster.
“Defensively, for sure,” Cain said of how he can help the Heat this season. “Being a young athletic fresh guy, I feel like that’s something that the Heat could use help with. I feel like that’s something I really focused on because I know that would be my calling card.”
INJURY REPORT
For Wednesday’s preseason game against the Nets, Heat ruled out Jimmy Butler (return to competition reconditioning, Hampton (right hip muscle strain), Tyler Herro (left thigh contusion), Caleb Martin (left knee tendinosis), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (left groin strain), Kyle Lowry (resting to give younger players an opportunity to play more minutes) and Kevin Love (resting to give younger players an opportunity to play more minutes).
