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 wing 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.
Spoelstra Fumes Over ‘Dangerous Play’ That Injured Adebayo
The Heat–Hornets overtime thriller on Tuesday was marred by what Miami coach Erik Spoelstra called a “stupid play.”
Charlotte pulled out a 127-126 play-in tournament victory, with LaMelo Ball scoring the game-winning layup. Ball was also involved in a controversial play in the first half. Heat wing Simone Fontecchio blocked his shot and the Hornets guard tumbled to the ground. The ball landed in Bam Adebayo‘s hands and Ball, as ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk describes, grabbed at the Heat center’s legs, tripping him.
Adebayo fell hard to the floor and eventually limped back to the locker room. He was ruled out during the second half due to a lower back injury.
Spoelstra felt Ball should have been ejected. Instead, the Hornets guard finished with 30 points and 10 assists.
“I don’t think it’s cute. I don’t think it’s funny. I think it’s a stupid play,” Spoelstra said, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). “It’s a dangerous play. Obviously, our best player was out. I’m not making an excuse. The Hornets played great and made those plays down the stretch. We had our opportunities to win. That’s a shame. He should be penalized for that. I don’t think that belongs in the game, tripping guys, shenanigans. Somebody has got to see that. He should have been thrown out of the game for that. There’s no place in the game for that.”
Official Zach Zarba explained to a pool reporter why the play wasn’t reviewed
“The play wasn’t whistled in real time. Play continued with a fast break,” he said. “And because play wasn’t stopped immediately, and there was no whistle on the play, the window to review the play was closed. Play was stopped, after a change of possession, and then a time out. So, by rule, our window to review that play then is closed.”
According to Zarba, Ball could be disciplined by league operations when they review the play.
Ball was apologetic after the game, Youngmisuk tweets. He said he got hit in the head on the play and didn’t know where he was. He added that he would speak to Adebayo about it.
The Hornets will head to either Philadelphia or Orlando to play on Friday for the final playoff spot in the East.
Bam Adebayo: ‘I Don’t Care’ About Critics Of 83-Point Game
After posting the second-highest single-game scoring total in NBA history on Tuesday, Bam Adebayo felt like he received more criticism than praise about the circumstances surrounding his 83-point night. Following the Heat‘s victory over Milwaukee on Thursday, Adebayo fired back at his detractors, writes Fred Katz of The Athletic.
“First of all, y’all are blaming me. You should be blaming that head coach (Washington’s Brian Keefe). Get that first,” Adebayo said. “I was not the one that let me go one-on-one the whole game until I had 70 (points) and then started to send a double (team). At that point, I had 70 with, what, nine minutes left to go in the game? You think I’m not going for it?”
As Katz outlines, both teams altered their strategies during the closing minutes of Adebayo’s historic performance. Miami committed several intentional fouls to get the ball back and give him more scoring chances, while the Wizards surrounded Adebayo with their entire defense in an effort to stop him from surpassing Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game from 2006.
Adebayo set the tone for the night with 31 points in the first quarter, reached 43 by halftime, and was at 62 going into the fourth quarter. He set NBA records by making 36 free throws and attempting 43, with 16 of his foul shots coming in the closing 12 minutes.
“That’s the thing that’s crazy when they talk about the unethical part of basketball. I’m like, ‘I had 70 with nine minutes to go,’” Adebayo said. “Who would just be like, ‘You know, coach? Just take me out.’ Yeah, right. … A minute? All right. Nine? Yeah, I’m going for it. You can’t be mad at that. If you are mad, I don’t care. Because a lot of people, they’re upset because if they did play, they never had a chance to get that close to chasing greatness. And if you get that close to chasing greatness, that’s the point of chasing it, so you can surpass it. … If you’ve been in the backyard, and you and a couple of your homies are playing 21, and you got 19, you’re not gonna get an easy look off.”
Regarding the free throws, he added, “It’s not like I shoot 15 free throws a game. It’s not like I average 10 free throws a game. You can watch the film. I was legitimately getting fouled every time, so I went to the free-throw line.”
Coach Erik Spoelstra sent a similar message during Thursday’s pregame session with the media, saying, “I apologize to absolutely no one,” per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscription required). The Heat played Tuesday without Tyler Herro, Norman Powell, Kel’el Ware and Andrew Wiggins, who were all sidelined by injuries, so Spoelstra wanted Adebayo to take control of the offense.
“I’ve seen people say, you’ve got to be a purist,” Spoelstra said. “I’m a Darwinist in this league. Really, you can do anything you want in this game. You can approach it however you want. If we get criticized for what we do, there was probably irony in these two organizations. There’s nothing wrong with what [the Wizards are] doing. If you can tank and get a great draft pick, I don’t care. Like, you can do anything you want in this league. You can approach it however you want.
“We don’t do that and we have a 14th pick do something that you’re trying to get out of the No. 1 pick. I’ve seen teams hack a Shaq. Debate it or not debate it, who cares? You can do whatever you want. You foul three-point shooters, not foul three-point shooters. You can take the last shot in the game that’s already over or don’t take it. Who gives a damn? Like, you’re allowed to do what? I don’t even believe in that.”
Heat Notes: Adebayo, Ware, Rozier, Herro
The Heat‘s double big lineup featuring Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware was showing signs of success just before the All-Star break, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscription required). Over the past three games, Miami outscored its opponents by 68 points in the 42 minutes that Adebayo and Ware played together. The games were against three of the league’s worst teams, but it’s still an encouraging sign.
“I think they’re both in a different place than where they were six, eight weeks ago, three months ago for different reasons,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But that gives us a different look and the versatility of being able to play the two of them together and pound the glass on both ends is a weapon for us. They both want to make it work. And they both know where we have to improve to make it work for it to be really effective for us. And I appreciate that.”
It’s a welcome change from earlier in the season when the two big men struggled so badly together than Spoelstra abandoned the concept for a while. Chiang notes that Adebayo and Ware weren’t on the court at the same time for 16 straight games until injuries forced Spoelstra to play them together again in the three games prior to the break.
Adebayo believes the combination can work if both players take the right approach.
“We just got to be active,” he said. “It’s not necessarily about the boards. Everybody is going to point to that. But if we’re active on offense and defense, it looks great and it can help this team.”
There’s more from Miami:
- Ware has been the target of frequent public criticism from Spoelstra, but he says his relationship with his coach is fine in an interview with Mark Medina of Essentially Sports. “It pushes me to want to get better even more,” Ware said. “I’m able to show up every day even through everything that is going on.”
- In a story on Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which investigates many of the NBA’s biggest scandals, Joe Vardon and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic shed light on the gambling-related probe of Terry Rozier when he was still with Charlotte. Multiple sources tell them the firm’s lawyers discovered that Rozier texted someone to inform them he would be coming out of a game early. However, the attorneys couldn’t convince anyone outside the NBA to take part in the investigation.
- In a mailbag column, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel (subscription required) addresses the Heat’s chances of earning a top-six spot in the East and takes issue with critics who accuse Tyler Herro of milking his injury absences.
Heat Notes: Jovic, Jakucionis, Herro, Health, Ware
Head coach Erik Spoelstra says Heat forward Nikola Jovic is working on his comportment when his shot isn’t falling, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. The 22-year-old has been in a season-long slump, with a subpar shooting line of just .370/.272/.687.
“It’s just something to work on and he is,” Spoelstra said of such visible exposure of fading confidence. “He’s working on it and you just want to have that strong face always throughout the course of competition. We like him shooting open shots, being aggressive offensively.
“You can’t control always whether the ball is going to go in or not. His process behind the scenes has been solid the last three weeks. He’s been putting in the time and that’s what you can control. He’s working on it, working on the strong face at all times.”
Jovic downplayed the issue, explaining that he remains internally confident despite how it might look from the outside.
“I think I’m just being true to myself,” he said. “Does it look good? Probably not. But I’m working on it. I think it’s a smart thing from them, telling me that I should maybe look better, and look better for the others, and help. So I’m just working on it. But I don’t think it’s any big issue.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Backcourt injuries have created playing time opportunities for rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis, who has been trending upward recently despite the team’s struggles, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The 19-year-old had 22 and 20 points earlier this week and has been extremely accurate from behind the arc this season (45.1%), though he has struggled from two-point range (30.4%). “I love Kas, man. He’s such a hard worker,” All-Star guard Norman Powell said. “I mean, he’s doing two, three workouts before shootarounds and before practice. I think the sky is the limit for him, just his approach, his mentality. He’s very mature for his age. He’s very focused and very locked in. I think it shows. He’s been put into the starting lineup when guys have been hurt. He’s been able to play and showcase his ability and why this organization loves him so much. I’m really excited for him.”
- Spoelstra was asked on Wednesday if Tyler Herro (rib injury) would return after the All-Star break, Winderman tweets. “He will be back. Yes, for sure,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t have a timeline exactly of when that will be. We’ll see. We’ll see how he progresses.”
- Miami remains confident that it can recapture the form that led to a 14-7 start to the season, rather than the 15-20 stretch that has followed, according to Chiang. Spoelstra was quick to point out that injuries have been a factor in the team’s inconsistency. “You just look at our defense, our defense is improving,” Spoelstra said. “It’s getting better, we’re third or fourth, depending on the metric you look at. It’s the same thing with our offense. The efficiency isn’t exactly where we need it to be, but we can explode on teams. We’re fourth in scoring. It’s a matter of doing it in those moments of truth when it really matters to push a win. Offensively, I think when we get our guys back, I think we’re going to be a really dangerous offensive team. We can be fourth in the league in scoring with large parts of our rosters on the sideline. Just wait until we get our guys back into the fold.”
- As Winderman notes, Spoelstra has been critical of second-year center Kel’el Ware multiple times this season, particularly after a December loss to Boston. It’s a small sample size, but Ware has fared better in two-big lineups alongside Bam Adebayo recently. “And I appreciate that,” Spoelstra said after Wednesday night’s win. “I also appreciate Kel’el’s process the last three weeks or a month, since whenever that game was, the infamous postgame quote. But his process really improved and you’re going to go through stretches where it’s up and down. But he just came in every day since then, just trying to work on getting better in the shootarounds and practices and film sessions. And it’s translating to the court. It doesn’t always guarantee that it will. But I appreciate his approach of late.”
Heat Notes: Rozier, Ware, Young Players, Powell, Herro
Terry Rozier won a salary dispute against the NBA on Monday when an arbitrator ruled in favor of the Heat guard, reports David Purdum of ESPN.com. Rozier was placed on unpaid leave by the league at the end of October, six days after he was arrested on federal charges related to a gambling investigation.
The 31-year-old pleaded not guilty conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in December.
Rozier is on an expiring $26.6MM contract. His full salary will be released after the arbitrator found the NBA violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement, as only players who are involved in cases of domestic or child abuse can be placed on unpaid leave, sources familiar with the ruling tell Purdum.
The National Basketball Players Association, which appealed the ruling on Rozier’s behalf, released the following statement to ESPN:
“We are pleased with the arbitrator’s ruling and remain committed to ensuring Terry’s due process rights are protected and that he is afforded the presumption of innocence throughout this process.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Kel’el Ware is reportedly expected to be included in the offer the Heat make for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The second-year center admits he’s heard those rumors, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “Of course, I’ve seen it,” Ware said Saturday. “My people have told me. But at the end of the day, if they make that decision, they make that decision. If not, then I’m just going to continue to go out here and play regardless.” As Chiang writes, Ware played a season-low three minutes in Saturday’s loss to Chicago, continuing a downward trend — he has averaged just 13.2 minutes per game over his past 10 appearances, well below his mark for the season (22.6 MPG). Head coach Erik Spoelstra said the decision to limit Ware’s playing time was because the game was “so fast” and the Bulls’ advantages were due to their “speed and quickness.” “I can’t control it,” Ware said. “I mean, it is what it is. I mean, whatever he feels like that he perceives or feels like playing.”
- As Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald observes (Twitter links), if the Heat are trying to acquire Giannis, Spoelstra isn’t exactly doing a great job of painting Ware as the blue-chip prospect Milwaukee is seeking. Spoelstra was critical of Ware a few weeks ago – though he walked back those comments the next day – and suggesting the 21-year-old center struggles against fast, small-ball lineups and limiting his playing time is “really puzzling,” Jackson writes. For what it’s worth, Ware scored 17 points in 18 minutes during Miami’s blowout Sunday victory over Chicago.
- After Sunday’s game, Spoelstra opened his media session by making unprompted comments about Ware and his overall handling of the team’s young players, saying he wants to do a better job of finding the right balance of holding that group accountable while also aiding their development and boosting their confidence, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Since one of you guys will probably ask about Kel’el,” Spoelstra said. “Kel’el gave us really solid minutes tonight. I was encouraged by his defensive activity. He’s part of that young-gun crew, as well. And offensively he moved the ball when he needed to, he gave us the vertical spacing when he needed to. He shot the three when he needed to. So those things I think we can build on.”
- Veteran wing Norman Powell was named to his first All-Star team on Sunday evening, but he was away from the team for the second straight game due to personal reasons, Winderman notes. “My peers around the league after games and things like that are telling me that I’m an All-Star and that I should be there,” he said. “But I do believe that I am an All-Star. I’ve always seen myself as that, and something that I’ve always wanted to work towards.”
- Tyler Herro, who has been limited to just 11 appearances this season due to injuries, including missing 10 straight contests with a rib issue, will not defend his three-point title at All-Star weekend, Winderman adds in another story. The 26-year-old guard, who made his first All-Star appearance last season, is focused on getting healthy, Winderman writes.
Heat Notes: Deadline, Powell, Mitchell, Smith, Spoelstra
The Heat are often linked to star-level players and this season has been no exception, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Ja Morant are among the noteworthy players who have been connected to the Heat over the past several weeks.
Still, unlike last year when a Jimmy Butler trade was an inevitability, there aren’t any Heat players looking to be sent out of Miami over the next 10 days. The Heat have good locker room chemistry, Winderman writes, but they’ve also had middling results again, currently just 25-22 and on pace to be in the play-in tournament for the fourth straight season.
Winderman takes stock of the Heat’s assets and potential trade candidates, noting that staying under the luxury tax line — they’re currently $1.6MM below that threshold — will be a priority this season.
One path the Heat could take prior to the February 5 deadline would be to consider dealing Norman Powell or Andrew Wiggins to potentially land another first-round pick, Winderman notes. Miami can currently only trade away two first-rounders (in 2030 and ’32) due to the Stepien rule, but adding another first would unlock additional picks to improve the roster.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Powell’s recent shooting slump have coincided with lower back tightness, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The veteran wing finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds in Sunday’s win at Phoenix, but shot just 5-of-21 from the field. “There’s more to basketball than just putting the ball in the basket,” Powell said. “There’s leading, there’s giving yourself up. I’ve done that this whole week with playing hurt with my back spasm and everything like that. But tonight I wanted to make an emphasis on getting rebounds and securing the ball so we can get out in transition, and I was able to do that and get my double-double.”
- Starting point guard Davion Mitchell, who aggravated a left shoulder injury last Tuesday in Sacramento, missed his third straight game on Sunday, Chiang adds. “He’s definitely making progress, but we need to go through some kind of workout where he takes contact and then see how he responds to that,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked for an update on Mitchell’s status ahead of Sunday’s game. “But everything else is trending in a really good way.”
- Spoelstra praised backup guard Dru Smith for his play in the weekend victories in Utah and Phoenix, according to Winderman. “Dru was great both games,” Spoelstra said. “It was almost like a misprint. I think he had five steals (Saturday) night, but I think it was like 13 or 14 deflections. It was crazy.” As Winderman notes, Smith’s role may be tenuous when Mitchell and Tyler Herro (rib injury) are healthy again, but he says he’s focused on making the most of his minutes rather than how much he’s playing.
- Spoelstra, the new head coach of Team USA, is more focused on the Heat at the moment than his summer job, but he said he met with USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill and team director Sean Ford in November. “Right now, there’s not a whole lot of action going on,” Spoelstra said, per Winderman. “I’ve kept in touch with both Grant Hill and Sean Ford, and we met up probably two months ago. But it was more general talks of two summers from now and scheduling, and what that’ll look like. We’ll probably get together in some fashion this summer for a little bit more extended time. I don’t know if we’ll do anything with players, but certainly we’ll meet. I love the whole process, so of course when we play and compete against teams, there’s players that will come to mind. But I’m not sweating that right now. That’s really for Grant. It’ll be a collaborative effort. But there’s plenty of time for that.”
Heat Notes: Powell, Ware, Spoelstra, DSJ, Adebayo
While Norman Powell has long been a productive scorer and excellent shooter, he has taken his game to new heights in recent years. In 2025/26, he’s averaging a career-high 23.7 points per game on .485/.416/.846 shooting for the Heat, making a strong bid for his first All-Star appearance.
As Fred Katz of The Athletic writes, Powell has become a “one-on-one savant.” As a result of the Heat’s offensive system, he’s on pace to more than double his previous career high in isolation plays, and he’s thriving in those situations. According to Katz, the Heat score 127.2 points per 100 possessions out of Powell’s isolations, which leads the NBA and would be the best mark single-season mark (for a player with at least 200 isos) since 2013, when Second Spectrum began tracking the stat.
Powell is earning roughly $20.5MM in the final year of his current contract and will remain eligible for a veteran extension up until June 30. If he doesn’t sign a new deal by that time, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Second-year big man Kel’el Ware sat out Tuesday’s game against Sacramento due to right hamstring tightness.It was Ware’s first missed game of the season, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required), who notes that the banged-up Heat have an open roster spot and can add a 15th man without surpassing the luxury tax threshold but have shown no urgency to do so.
- Within a mailbag for the Sun Sentinel (subscription required), Winderman writes that Heat personnel decisions are “now a village” and aren’t made solely by team president Pat Riley. Head coach Erik Spoelstra has “considerable input” in those decisions, Winderman adds.
- After being waived by the Wisconsin Herd, former NBA lottery pick Dennis Smith Jr. has been acquired by the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s G League affiliate, tweets NBA insider Marc Stein. Smith, who hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2023/24 season, averaged just 8.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 23.4 minutes per game across 11 appearances for the Herd. While the veteran guard is regarded as an above-average defender, he continues to struggle as a shooter, posting a .354/.250/.667 line for Milwaukee’s NBAGL team.
- Heat star Bam Adebayo is the winner of the NBA Cares Bob Lanier Community Assist Award for December, having been recognized for his off-court work, per a press release.
Southeast Notes: Ware, Herro, Suggs, Dennis
After criticizing Kel’el Ware following Thursday’s loss to Boston, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra walked back those comments in a session with reporters before tonight’s game, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald states in a subscriber-only piece. Ware spent the entire second half on the bench Thursday night, and Spoelstra said he needs to get back to stacking good days like he was seven or eight weeks ago. Spoelstra said on Saturday that he didn’t intend to single out Ware for the defeat.
“I didn’t articulate that in a great way and that wasn’t fair to Kel’el,” he said. “I wasn’t even frustrated. So what I’ll say is I’m fully invested in and invigorated about the opportunity to develop Kel’el, and our staff feels the same way. We’re going to give him everything we have to make sure he becomes the player that he wants to become, that we need him to become.”
Ware, who has been a frequent target of criticism from Spoelstra during his year-and-a-half with the team, didn’t seemed fazed by it when he talked to reporters tonight. He added that he hasn’t spoken to his coach about the latest comments.
“Just going out there and playing, basically,” Ware said in explaining how he responds to Spoelstra’s challenges. “In order to produce, I guess, like he said eight weeks ago, I would say I had more minutes eight weeks ago. But I guess to try to bring that same productivity to the minutes that I’m getting now.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Heat guard Tyler Herro is sitting out tonight’s game against Oklahoma City due to a rib contusion, but he’s not expected to miss much time, Chiang tweets. “This shouldn’t be long term,” Spoelstra told reporters. “We’ll just continue to treat him and see how he responds.”
- Jalen Suggs has already been ruled out for Sunday’s contest in London, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). It will be the seventh straight missed game for the Magic guard since he suffered an MCL contusion on his right knee early this month.
- RayJ Dennis, who signed a two-way contract with the Hawks at the end of December, posted huge numbers for College Park in the G League on Friday (Twitter link). The 24-year-old point guard finished with 46 points and 15 assists in a win over Delaware while shooting 16-of-24 from the field and sinking five three-pointers.
Heat Notes: Ware, Haslem, Midway Point, Grades, Powell, Wiggins
Heat second-year big man Kel’el Ware continues to frustrate the coaching staff with his inconsistency. Ware was benched during the second half of the team’s loss to Boston on Thursday and coach Erik Spoelstra called him out afterward, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.
“It was a tough matchup for him in Boston with all the coverages, and the same thing (Thursday),” Spoelstra said. “He just has to stay ready. Look, with Kel’el, I know that’s a lightning-rod topic. He needs to get back to where he was eight weeks ago, seven weeks ago, where I felt and everybody in the building felt, he was stacking days, good days. He’s stacking days in the wrong direction now. He’s just got to get back to that. Stack days, build those habits, make sure you’re ready and play the minutes that you’re playing to a point where it makes me want to play you more.”
Former Heat player Udonis Haslem said during a Prime Video appearance that Ware needs to make the coaches believe he’s deserving of more playing time.
“Put them in a position to earn their money,” Haslem said. “Put them in a position to say, ‘He is one of our top seven or right guys, he should be playing. Let me figure out ways to get him more minutes because he deserves those minutes.’ I understand your minutes are going to fluctuate based on the situation with coaches. There is nothing you can do about it. But what you can do is every time you step out on the basketball court, make sure your minutes are impactful, make sure your minutes are positive.”
Bam Adebayo made similar comments to the media.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- With a 21-20 record at the midway point of the season, Miami hasn’t played to its potential, in Spoelstra’s view. “We feel like we’re better than where we are, but we are what our record is right now. That’s the bottom line,” the Heat coach said, per Chiang. “If you play games on paper, I think right now we would have a better record. But that’s not the case right now.” Adebayo believes the players need to be more focused and mentally tougher. “We are better than what our record says,” he said. “But until all of us commit to doing role-player things, we’ll keep being in the middle of the pack, mediocre. Until guys get sick of that middle ground of being seventh, eighth and not want to really make a push to be fourth or third in the East, we’re going to stay right here.”
- The Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman hands out midseason grades and gives Norman Powell an A and Jaime Jaquez Jr. an A-. Disappointing offseason acquisition Simone Fontecchio was awarded a D-.
- In the same story, Winderman opines that the front office might be better off trading Powell and Andrew Wiggins, noting the team is wallowing in mediocrity and could help its long-term outlook by acquiring draft capital. Powell will be an unrestricted free agent after the season while Wiggins holds a player option worth over $30.1MM for next season.