Heat coach Erik Spoelstra seems to deliver far more criticism than praise in his public comments about Kel’el Ware, but the second-year center is used to that, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscription required). Ware got the same feedback in college, first from Dana Altman at Oregon and then from Mike Woodson at Indiana, so he has learned how to handle it.
“I’ve been getting coached like that,” Ware said. “So it’s not much of a big thing to me, I would say. I just take it as they want to see me be better and be a better version of myself.”
Spoelstra challenged Ware over the summer to “improve his professionalism” and has stated that he needs to find ways to impact games rather than just collecting stats. Ware’s numbers have improved this season, but Spoelstra still wants more, especially on defense.
”He’s handling it appropriately when he’s being held accountable to winning things,” Spoelstra said. “It doesn’t have to be like a negative thing. We all want the same thing. We want a better result. We want growth faster. I want him to be like he’s 28, and that’s not realistic. And a little bit of impatience is good, as long as everybody handles it appropriately. But his play, obviously, is improving, and I want to feel that.”
There’s more from Miami:
- The Heat are getting closer to having a healthy roster, as Pelle Larsson and Nikola Jovic are both listed as questionable for Friday’s game at Atlanta, Chiang adds. Larsson has missed the past five games with a sprained left ankle, and Jovic has sat out the last four with a right elbow contusion/laceration.
- Bam Adebayo has been downgraded to doubtful for the contest due to lower back soreness, per Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel (Twitter link). That could help explain Adebayo’s recent slump as he’s averaging just 11.8 points over his last four games while shooting 37.5% from the field.
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. is scoring consistently again after his production stagnated for a while in late November and early December, Winderman notes in a full story (subscription required). Jaquez delivered 23 and 21 points off the bench in his last two outings. “I think it’s just playing confident, understanding now it’s my third year, there’s going to be ups and downs and just got to continue to play confident, play with the same tenacity of whether you’re playing well, playing not so well,” he said. “So that’s just really my mentality.”