Report: Miami Heat Making Strong Push For Josh Smith

The Miami Heat are working hard to put themselves in position to land recently released forward Josh Smith.

Josh Smith’s next stop could be in South Beach.

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The Miami Heat have applied for Disabled Player Exception because of Josh McRoberts’ season-ending knee injury and hope to use the $2.65 million DPE to sign Smith, who was recently released by the Detroit Pistons, according to ESPN.

While the Heat clearly want Smith and would have the most money to offer him among teams in the hunt for his services, it still won’t be easy for Miami to land the forward. The Houston Rockets, who are the favorites to land Smith, and Dallas Mavericks can’t offer much cash, but they each have secret weapons when it comes to recruiting.

"Sources say the Rockets, with Howard leading their recruiting pitch, believe Smith will ultimately choose Houston over Miami and the Dallas Mavericks, whose recruiting effort is being spearheaded by guard Rajon Rondo — another of Smith’s close friends.“He’s just as close to Dwight as he is to Rondo,” one source said late Monday, “and Dwight wants him.”Rondo, who said he talks to Smith “pretty much every day,” believes his friend and former high school teammate would be a good fit for the Mavs."

Still, the idea of Smith in Miami is an interesting one to think about and the forward would undoubtedly be a risk for the Heat. While Smith has plenty of talent, he has been terrible this season, averaging 13.1 points on 39.1 percent shooting from the floor, 24.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc and 46.8 percent shooting from the foul line.

However, at 13-15, the Heat are desperate and seem wiling to take that risk on a talented player like Smith.

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