English: Kentucky Wildcats center Josh Harrellson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Josh Harrellson tweeted a few weeks back that he was headed to Miami, hopefully for the entire season. What the former Knick big man was heading to in reality was a one-week tryout with the team.
That tryout went well enough for him to get another one — this time at training camp.
The Knicks have inked Harrellson to a non-guaranteed contract, the team announced (hat tip to Ira Winderman). That means Harrellson comes to training camp but he has to earn his way onto the roster. Harrellson, Mickell Gladness and Jarvis Varnado will be fighting to make the roster, but of that group Harrellson should be the frontrunner. Joel Anthony is a lock to make the roster and Dexter Pittman has a guaranteed contract, but that doesn’t rule out a disappointed Heat buying him out.
Harrellson, the former Kentucky player, looked pretty solid for a rookie for the Knicks last season but was pushed out in a numbers game there.
Harrellson should be the frontrunner to make the roster because he provides the kind of versatility in positions that Erik Spoelstra likes in his offense — he shot 33.9 percent from three but has the bulk to body guys on the low block (on both ends of the floor). It was the amount of bulk that first made the Heat cautious — they wanted Harrellson to work on his conditioning — but he seems to have made some stride there.
How many minutes Harrellson can get remains to be seen, the Heat are going small with this year with a lot of Chris Bosh at the five and Anthony behind him. But it’s a roster spot and a job.
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/17/heat-sign-former-knick-harrellson-to-non-guaranteed-deal/
