Heat Notes: Spoelstra, Bam, Powell, Fontecchio

While Erik Spoelstra was upset on Tuesday about the “dangerous play” from LaMelo Ball that caused Bam Adebayo to injure his lower back, the Heat‘s head coach was calmer when he was asked about the incident in Thursday’s exit interviews, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

“I’m not really thinking about that anymore,” Spoelstra said Thursday. “I said what I had to say about it. I didn’t think that he needed to be penalized more moving forward. I don’t think that would make sense. I don’t think he’s a dirty player. I just think, at the moment, both things can be true. In that moment, it was a dirty play, a dangerous play. It should have been caught at that moment, but it wasn’t. And then, you move on.”

Adebayo also addressed the play and said he didn’t have any previous history with Ball to suggest there was any “bad blood” between them. An X-ray on the big man’s back came back negative, Chiang writes, and Adebayo hasn’t undergone an MRI to this point.

“Obviously, I’m still walking, so I’m OK,” Adebayo said after walking gingerly, but without any assistance, to the microphone on Thursday.

As for the offseason, Adebayo said questions about potential roster changes should be directed to Spoelstra and president Pat Riley. But the three-time All-Star acknowledged that the team will “probably” look different after missing the playoffs, and Adebayo made it clear where his motivation lies.

“You see how the last four years have been,” Adebayo said. “You can go in and voice that. Everybody in this building knows I want to win. I put on that jersey almost every game through hell and high water just because I want to win. I want to put us in a position to win. When you don’t win, I always put it on myself. That’s me going in the summer trying to be better. Trying to figure out how I can take my game to the next level, how I can be a better captain.

“And the business side is not my side. To me, being able to share my opinion is more important because that means you have somebody actively listening to you. For them to listen is me telling them I want to win. That’s bottom line.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

• Norman Powell made his first All-Star team in his first season in Miami, but injuries caused him to miss extended time after the break and he only played 19 minutes in Tuesday’s play-in loss to Charlotte, Chiang writes for The Miami Herald. The veteran guard/forward openly expressed a desire to sign an extension with the Heat early in the season, but he was more guarded when he discussed his future with the team on Tuesday. “They have to make decisions and things based on the team and where they want to be and what they want to do next year,” Powell said of the Heat. “Hopefully I’m a part of the plan. And if I am, great. Like I said, I like my time here. So we’ll just see where they’re at, where my agent is at, and what’s going on in free agency.”
• Although Spoelstra was understandably disappointed with an early end to the Heat’s season, he struck an optimistic tone about the development of young players like Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Pelle Larsson and Kasparas Jakucionis, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “There was significant improvement. You saw his ability to compete in a meaningful game and produce in the moments of truth,” Spoelstra said of Ware. “There were a lot of ups and downs this year, but I appreciate his intention every day trying to work at it, get better. And he still has a big offseason ahead to make that next jump hopefully.”
• Simone Fontecchio, who will be a free agent this summer, has already made it known he’d like to re-sign with Miami. The 30-year-old said on Thursday that he likely won’t play with the Italian national team during World Cup qualifying games in July, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, but is hopeful he’ll be able to suit up for games in August once his free agency is resolved.