As the Heat are face an immediate future without LeBron James, they continue to shore up the roster with reliable pieces that will maintain a certain level of continuity from the success of the recent past.
The same day Miami reportedly agreed to bring back starting point guard Mario Chalmers, they did the same with a key member of the team’s big man rotation.
From Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:Free-agent forward Chris “Birdman” Andersen has agreed on a multiyear deal to return to the Miami Heat, a league source told Yahoo Sports on Sunday.
Several teams made strong pushes for Andersen – including a late bid by the New York Knicks – but Andersen wanted to return to a roster core and franchise that will move on without LeBron James.
And from Marc Stein of ESPN.com:
Hearing Chris Andersen’s looming new deal with Miami is a two-year pact in the neighborhood of $10 million
All of Miami’s recent contract agreements are in a slight bit of flux as to the actual dollar amount, due to the team’s salary cap machinations.
Andersen appeared in 72 regular season games for the Heat last year, and averaged 6.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots in 19.4 minutes per contest.
In addition to Andersen and Chalmers, the Heat brought back Chris Bosh, signed two-time All-Star Luol Deng, and also added Danny Granger and Josh McRoberts. Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem are both expected to agree to terms soon, and when all is said and done, Miami will still have a team that will be projected to finish as one of the East’s top four squads.
And after losing LeBron, that’s no small accomplishment.
