The positive vibes that the Heat generated by winning the Summer League title in Las Vegas have carried over into the start of the regular season, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. That team included first-round pick Kel’el Ware and second-round pick Pelle Larsson, along with two-way players Josh Christopher and Keshad Johnson, and coach Erik Spoelstra said they’ve provided youthful energy since the start of training camp.
“What they have shown as a collective group as young guys, they’ve brought us some talent level that we’ve been able to restock our roster,” Spoelstra said. “They’ve given us an exuberance. But they’ve also found a way as a group to win, to impact winning, to find a way to gut out wins. I don’t know what it is, I just know it’s something. I think probably what’s different about this group is it’s been a pack, a pack of wolves. That’s what’s different.”
Ware was one of the stars in Las Vegas, earning a spot on the All-Summer League First Team after being drafted with the 15th pick. However, the 20-year-old center doesn’t have a clear path to playing time in Miami with Bam Adebayo, Kevin Love and Thomas Bryant ahead of him on the depth chart. He played the final 6:15 of a blowout in the season opener and will miss tonight’s game in Charlotte due to an illness.
“He’s put almost 10 pounds on since he’s been with us and he’s embraced how we do things,” Spoelstra said. “That was one of the encouraging things once we dove into his background — that he’s not afraid to work, particularly at [Indiana University].”
There’s more from Miami:
- The Heat had two days off to recover from Wednesday’s 32-point loss to Orlando, Chiang adds in a separate story. Spoelstra concentrated on the need to become more aggressive defensively to create open-court opportunities. Chiang notes that Miami led the NBA during the preseason by forcing turnovers on 21.7% of possessions, but only managed five steals and nine deflections against the Magic. “You want them to feel you,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not necessarily going to be the metrics or steals or deflections every single time. It’s more about doing tough things, being physical, getting teams out of what they typically want to do at every point of attack that we’re there, and that wasn’t the case.”
- Love will miss his second straight game tonight for personal reasons, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link).
- Nassir Little, who was with the Heat in training camp on a non-guaranteed contract before being waived last Saturday, will join the team’s G League affiliate in Sioux Falls, tweets Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The 24-year-old forward spent last season with Phoenix after four years in Portland.