Watching the Miami Heat lose to the Indiana Pacers Monday night, it became clear they need something.
We’ll see if Erick Dampier can be part of that something.
Multiple reports have the Miami Heat offering a one-year, minimum deal to Dampier (Ken Berger of CBS was first with this). He is expected to sign it Tuesday.
It’s not really a surprise, he was expected to sign after the Heat started looking for another big man to replace Udonis Haslem, who will be out for months after foot surgery to repair torn ligaments suffered in Saturday night’s Heat loss to the Grizzlies.
Dampier wanted to go to the Heat first this summer after he was waived by Charlotte, but the Heat backed away after some workouts. Dampier also worked out for the Suns, Raptors, Rockets and Bucks and nothing came of any of it (with some rumblings about his health and conditioning).
Dampier is not a great player, he’s pretty average, but he is more complete than any of the big men on the Heat roster — he can score a little, block shots a little, rebound and just be a big presence in the paint. The rest of the Heat’s big men are more one dimensional. Dampier was the starting center for some good Dallas Mavericks teams.
Miami has 15 guaranteed contracts on the roster and will have to cut someone tomorrow, and that means Jamaal Magloire and Dexter Pittman should not be sleeping well tonight.
