Despite seemingly messy breakups with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade and missing the playoffs this season, the Heat are not concerned with difficulties of luring free agents to South Beach, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. As Jackson notes, Bosh and the Heat seem to be on good terms despite the controversial circumstances surrounding the former All-Star’s battles with blood clots, which prompted to Heat to not play him this season. Also, an associate of Wade tells Jackson the Miami legend is open to playing for the team again in the future.
However, the team’s ultimate calling card may be its coach, Erik Spoelstra. In addition to coaching the Heat to two NBA titles during his tenure, Spoelstra has created a culture that allows players to thrive. Heat forward James Johnson explained to Jackson that “consistency” is the coach’s strength.
“When I say consistency, I [mean] it’s doing the same thing, not giving you the same minutes every game, but consistently getting on you enough, praising you a little bit, holding me to my word,” Johnson said. “When you get a consistent coach you look up to like coach Spo, it makes things easier.”
Miami’s culture includes rigorous training, which Jackson says will deter certain veteran players who do not want to add mileage to their bodies. As Spoelstra has said, the Heat are “not for everybody.”
Here is more news from the Southeast Division:
- The Hornets announced earlier this week that center Miles Plumlee underwent successful arthroscopic debridement on his right knee. The expected recovery for the 28-year-old center is six to eight weeks, so he should be good to go this fall. Plumlee was sent to Charlotte as part of a February deal that included Spencer Hawes and Roy Hibbert going to the Bucks. In 13 games with the Hornets, Plumlee posted totals of 2.4 PPG and 3.2 RPG.
- Former Hawks general manager Wes Wilcox was seemingly let go by Atlanta earlier this week, but will remain with the team in a different capacity. However, before that move was announced, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Wilcox had been “in contact with other NBA teams and at least one college about other positions.”
- Meanwhile, Mike Budenholzer will not retain his title as the Hawks’ president of basketball operations and will instead report — along with Wilcox — to whomever the Hawks hire to oversee basketball operations, per Vivlamore.
Waiters bexame the player he was this past season because of the weight loss and look how good he was, I expect him and Johnson to re-sign and maybe they pick up TJ Leaf in the draft to play the 4. No need for guys like Gay,Wade,Griffin who are injury prone and wont do well under Spoelstra’s training.
I agree. I love Wade but don’t feel the need for to add him, we need to be younger. Winslow will come back. I do feel like we should push for some star though, in this league you can’t win without one
Whiteside has the potential to be that star, Riley already said he wants him to be a 20 and 10 center. Winslow will fit in like a glove next season and breakout, they got Dragic and Waiters also, no need to spend crazy money on a free agent they were the hottest team in the league once everyone became healthy and did it with Babbitt as their 4, imagine if they slot a guy like Leaf who is a prototypical 4.