Heat’s Kel’el Ware Responds to Spo’s Challenge With Best Summer League Performance So Far

Heat’s Kel’el Ware Responds to Spo’s Challenge With Best Summer League Performance So Far

Up everybody, Wes Goldberg here from my hotel room here in Las Vegas. Uh, thanks so much for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. I’m about to check out here and then head back to Miami. But before I leave Vegas, I wanted to leave you with some thoughts on uh Miami’s last summer league game on Sunday and Kell Wear’s response uh to Eric Spolstra challenging him to be more professional. So uh let’s quickly touch on the game itself. Miami lost to Cleveland. They uh dropped to 1-2 now. um in uh or 0 and2 now in Las Vegas summer league. They lost 92 to 72. But KL Wear uh was good. He was a lot better than he’s been for all of summer league. 21 points, nine rebounds on uh eight of 14 shooting overall, had three blocks in this game. And I just thought his level of aggressiveness uh was far and away beyond what he had been showing uh before this. And to just go back to what Eric Spolster’s comments were challenging him to be more professional every single day to play with a level of aggression, this heat coaching staff and Eric Spolster were clearly frustrated with how Khlo Wear was approaching summer league so far uh prior to Sunday’s game. They in their view believe that he should be dominating, right? This is a guy who was starting for you in playoff games. He was good as a rookie. they wanted to see steps going forward and Kell just didn’t come out with a level of urgency. He didn’t approach it with a level of professionalism that they wanted to. Um whether or not he just wasn’t taking the summer league part seriously or not, I think that’s what Eric Spolster was getting at when he was saying things like, “Hey, you got to approach everything like you approach every day. Approach every day that you like you approach everything.” basically saying, “Look, summer league, playoff game, NBA finals, whatever it is, you need to approach everything the way you do anything. You need to approach all of it with a level of urgency and with a level of professionalism. This is your job. It doesn’t matter what the context is.” And they wanted to see more from him. And that’s what they got on Sunday. I thought he was a lot better right out the gate. Uh he was aggressive. He was looking for a shot, but not and then defensively was better and rebounding was better. And I think with Kell, you can always tell his level his level of engagement with not just the points necessarily, but the rebounding. Is he fighting? Is he boxing out? Is he trying to go get those rebounds that are out of his reach? Is he fighting for that extra board? Is he doing his homework early in terms of boxing out and stuff like that? So, uh, I thought he was really good. I I He also made some really good in between plays. um you know getting getting a block and then running the floor with urgency. Um he had a nice like give and go pass in that game just reading the floor making quick decisions. Sometimes with Kell it gets frustrating with him and I know that the the coaching staff can get frustrated with him too because sometimes he just doesn’t look um sure of himself out there all the time and he’s slow to make decisions. There was points in summer league before where, you know, he’d get the ball at the top of the key and he’s like, “Okay, do I dribble? Do I pass it? Do I shoot it?” And he’s just sort of holds the ball for a beat or two too long and at that point the the the whole possession just goes to smokes and uh and and too often he ends up making the wrong decision after that and second guessing himself. Uh, but in this game, I thought he was really quick with the decision-making, and it wasn’t always the right one offensively, but I thought overall it was. And I liked his shot diet. I thought it was a lot more stuff closer to the rim. Uh, there was a couple of lob dunks in this game. A He had a really nice spin into a dunk earlier in this game where I love seeing that when he’s spinning into the dunk as opposed to spinning away from the basket into a fadeaway. When he’s spinning away from the basket into that fadeaway, that’s when he gets into trouble. And it looks really pretty and it looks cool. Oo and a and all that stuff when it goes in, but it’s not an efficient shot. This is a guy who’s 7 foot 7 foot one. He should be finishing at the rim more often and playing above the rim as much as he can. And I thought he did that in this game. So, uh again, I thought my favorite play was he he catches the ball on the low block uh on the baseline, gets it spin move right into a dunk. Urgency, decisive, quick, physical at the rim. That’s what they want to see from him. And I thought defensively, again, the three blocks, I thought he got caught chasing a few blocks in this game. He did have four personal fouls in this one. So, it wasn’t all like this wasn’t an A+ game from Keller. I wouldn’t call it that, but the point was that it was a definitely a step in the right direction. So, we talked with Kell after the game and um Ira Winderman had did a really nice job with his line of questioning and basically said like look how did you and he was asked when you saw Eric Spolster’s what what he told us yesterday what what were your thoughts like how did you respond to it and I I thought he said all the right things I did I thought he said all the right things I think um he approached it with a level of confidence and he didn’t hide or shy away from the fact that he was called out by his coach and when Ira asked him, you know, why don’t we see this from you every every game? Like, why isn’t it why is it that Eric Spolster is saying this has to be an everyday thing and not a sometimes thing? And Kell said, you will. Okay, cool answer. Uh, great sound bite. Prove it. And that’s what the heat coaching staff is uh is going to want to see here. Um, other quick notes from uh summer league uh from that game. Uh, Kasparus Yakonis was not his best uh outing. Six points on two of five shooting, two rebounds, two assists, a steel, missed both of his three-pointers. Just didn’t I kind of forgot he was out there for a lot of this game. Uh, that’s not great. Um, Eric Stevenson, who’s um, you know, a he’s like a five-year guy. He went to four different colleges, but he’s been playing really well. Uh, he’s been in the G-League for a couple years now, but he’s been playing really well for this Heat summer league team. He finished with 10 points and five rebounds, two or three shooting from three-point range, four or six overall. His shot is really smooth. I really like his off the dribble game. I got a chance to talk with him a little bit out here in Vegas. Um, I don’t know if he’s uh, we’ll see. I think that final open two-way spot is pretty open to competition. Um I know that there’s guys that Miami likes uh on their summer league roster. They could always look elsewhere also, but I just thought he was worth a shout out because he did have 10 points in this game. Eric Stevenson did. And then Pel Larson, I thought it was another really good game from him. 14 points, three rebounds, two assists. Did have the five turnovers, but overall there’s turnovers that I don’t like and there’s turnovers that I do like. Some of them were not great, but I just like the level of doing stuff from Pella Lararsson. He was just all over the place. The turnovers are going to be a part of that sometimes, but I’d rather have the guy trying to make something happen than a guy go out there and not and you don’t really notice him. And with Pella, you just always notice him. He’s always diving on the floor. Probably too much, honestly. He’s kind of always on the floor. Um, but you know, I think he uh he he he is approaching this the way that I think the Heat coaching staff wanted Pella or wanted Kell to approach this. So, um, those are just my quick notes here on Miami’s final summer league game. They do play another game uh on Monday afternoon. Uh, I want to get to a few mailbag questions here um that uh you guys all sent in on Twitter. Uh, Dim writes in, “Has there been any sighting or mention from the Heat Ontario Rosier this summer? Any type of revival would be a welcome boost off the bench, even 12 points on a healthy percentage?” Yeah, you know what? I I thought it was pretty curious that first of all, Eric Spo and none of the coaching staff has ever brought up Terry Rosier. We had about a 17minute media session with Eric Spolster and Rosier was never brought up. Now, to be fair, we never we didn’t ask him. We didn’t ask him about Ter Rosier. And maybe it’s that maybe it’s just that the fact that we’re just not asking. So they’re not talk they’re not talking about it. But there are a lot of other things going on with this team right now. That said, I I think the Norm Powell trade one of the things that we’re not discussing a whole lot in terms of the Norm Pow trade is just how this impacts Terry Rosier. He’s coming in and taking the job that Rosier was supposed to have when they traded for him a couple years ago. This is what they want. They want a guy who could play next to Taliro and improve Miami’s offense. So, um, we’ll see. You know, I think for Rosier, it’s if he’s still on the roster in training camp, how does he look in training camp? What’s his approach? Uh, does he look healthier? Does that is that shot going in? There’s definitely a world where he can earn some minutes because beyond Norm and Tyler Herro and DaVon Mitchell, uh, I don’t know what I don’t know who among the ball handlers and guard types are guaranteed minutes, right? Like Sparis Yakonis is a rookie. I don’t know that he’s guaranteed minutes right away. And you know, guys like Powell Larson could play guard the guard spot, but I wouldn’t necessarily call him a ball handler type. So, you know, when you’re looking beyond DaVon Mitchell, Tyler Herro, and Norm Powell, I do think there’s going to be minutes up for grabs, and I do think that Rosier, if he’s still on the roster, will have an opportunity to earn some of those minutes. Uh, but he’s got to he’s got to earn them. Um, another question from the untrained eye. Who’s been which prospects have you seen in Vegas outside of the Heat Summer League roster that you think the Heat should consider for a two-way? I’d have to give this a little bit more thought um in terms of who’s really stood out and figure out like who’s even available and things like that. But the one the one guy I was surprised to see land on a summer league roster was Charles Bassie. He’s on the Boston Celtics summer league roster. Played the last couple years in San Antonio. Energy, big man. Um you know, plays hard, good rebounder, good decent size, 610, 611, physical. Um, and I think he if Miami is looking for another big uh if they’re looking for another body at that center spot, which I think they’re going to need, you know, I maybe Vlad Golden is the answer there. Um, we’ll see if Kell starts um then they might need more depth. If or maybe he doesn’t start, right? Maybe Bam is a starting center, Kell comes off the bench and then they have a backup center and they don’t really need that many bodies. But I still it still feels like this team is a big body away that they just they need for depth purposes even if that player isn’t playing every single night. And a guy like Bassie that to me is the type of hustle big who can come in give you five, six, seven, eight minutes uh when somebody’s in foul trouble or or whatever it might be and he’s just going to come in and do his job and and and fill in some minutes. So that’s a guy that I would look at. But Miami has, you know, they have an open roster spot. They’re also above the luxury tax. They have until the end of the regular season to get under the luxury tax. So maybe they go ahead and add somebody there. Or maybe they do think that it’s Vlad Golden and they say, “You know what? even with the limitations of the two-way contract. We like them and uh maybe they start the season with him and figure out where they need to go with that. Um uh another question, our guys haven’t shown a lot of promise to earn a two-way contract. Do you think the Heat will sign somebody from another summer league team? I think they could. Yeah, I wouldn’t rule that out. But I also um I don’t know that look, just because they’re not uh winning the summer league championship like they want they did last summer, I do think that there’s guys that they like on the summer league team that they’re going to want to give um they’re going to want to give another look to. Right. I think a guy like Javvante Cook could be a guy that that earns a summer league spot uh a two-way spot rather. He didn’t have a good game on Sunday. He over five shooting wasn’t great. Um, but overall he’s been good and he’s got some good size, good athleticism, and and I think they like his approach. But, uh, there is no guarantee on who gets that two-way spot yet. It’s still open for grabs. Uh, you got to play well in summer league to go ahead and get it. And to the point of the question, if the scouts are here, right? The every Adam Simon’s here, everybody’s here. Um, Keith Asins was here in Vegas. Like, they have people out here looking at these teams, watching these other games. If somebody else pops that they want to go get, they could definitely do that. They’ve done it before. Um Brian writes in, “What do you think of this trade idea from Yahoo?” Rosier in a second for Vousvich. I don’t hate it, right? Like you’re already kind of paying a guy in Rosier. Um even if Vousvich, if you don’t look at him as a starter, I don’t you’re not looking at Rosier as a starter and you’re still paying a ton of money for a guy therefore who’s coming off the bench. So if you think that Vousvich is a guy who you can get, he’s on and expiring. I don’t love the idea of parting with more draft picks um for a guy who’s not necessarily going to play a ton, but there’s worse trades, right? And if they did that, they would definitely be a little bit deeper, but it would be a little bit of a strange trade. Um Zach writes in, “Does this PAL trade make us more of a No Man’s Land team or less?” I think it makes them less like what’s No Man’s Land is No Man’s Land in the playing tournament? I would argue. Is No Man’s Land the fifth or sixth seed in the East where you don’t have to play in the playing tournament? I don’t think so. I think that’s a legit playoff team, right? If you’re a top six seed, you’re one of the best six teams in your conference. Is that no man’s land? I guess it depends on the definition. But with with Powell, I think that the Heat have a legit chance to be one of the top six seeds in the Eastern Conference, get in the playoffs, get that week off, uh, and go from there. And they could perhaps be even better depending on how Powell looks. So, uh, I think it makes them less of a no man’s land team. Um, Troy writes in, “With the addition of Pal and the likelihood of keeping Wiggins, is this roster good enough to get out of the playin, I’m thinking Nico and Wear would need to make drastic improvements for us to get a top six seed.” Uh, yeah, like I just said, I do think that having Pal, if everybody can stay healthy, I think this team, first of all, I think this team is already better than what it was last year. And I think the Heat coaching staff feels I think and and the Heat’s front office, I think they feel the same way. I think they think that they are better than what their record was last season. And now that they’ve gotten away from the Jimmy Butler situation, they’re going to have a full training camp, a roster, uh, intact, no big lingering questions, a well-deserved break from for Eric Spolstra for the rest of this roster. I think they’re going to come back refreshed, motivated, uh, and there is talent. We’ve talked about this on the show, there’s talent on this roster. Um, and then when you add Pal to the mix when that I think that bumps Wiggins now to where he’s more comfortable as basically a fourth option, right? If you if it’s Tyler Herro, Norm Pal, Bam Adabio in whatever order, then Wiggins kind of fit into that other more of a fourth scoring role and and every once in a while when Wiggins is feeling it and when he wants to go off for 45 points or whatever, he could do that and those other guys could step aside and and not have to shoulder the scoring burden uh quite as much on that particular night. But I I do think that this team is is talented. Uh I don’t think that they’re talented like the Knicks or the Cavs, but I think they’re they’re pretty good. And it is going to come down to the young guys. It it’s it’s been too it’s for Nico, he’s going into his fourth year. For Haime, he’s going into his third year for Kell going into his second year. The Heat made a decision when they didn’t trade for Kevin Durant and didn’t pursue Kevin Durant more that they wanted to lean into the youth movement a little bit. And I know some people, oh well, you traded for Norm Pal and that’s not young. Okay, well that was that was a that was a no-brainer. It was Kevin Love and Colin. Sometimes you just don’t overthink it, right? Like you could get a lot better for very little cost. You just do that. You do that. Uh and you also don’t know from these young guys who is ready to step up. So you add a guy like Pal, you have Wiggins, you have Tyler, you have Bam. These are guys who could play minutes. These are legitimate, proven rotation guys, high-end rotation guys, all star in some cases in the NBA. You need those guys, right? Miami, they’re not going to do the full tank. So they’re not going to do what the Wizards are doing, what the Nets are doing, what Charlotte, and they’re not going to just play all their young guys 30 plus minutes. They’re going to make them earn those minutes and earn that playing time. And that goes for Kell, it goes for Nico, it goes for Haime, it goes for Pella, it goes for Yakonis, it goes for every it goes for Kash Johnson, it goes for everybody on this roster. Nobody’s guaranteed playing time. And I actually think that that I I prefer that. I I think that it’s good to have these young players earn it. I think about the early 2000 Hurricanes all the time in this. Not saying that this Heat roster is stacked like that team, but you know, you would get a five-star recruit, a blue chip recruit, and he wasn’t guaranteed playing time as a freshman, and it didn’t matter because he had to go into camp and into practice and earn that playing time. And that kind of competition creates growth, and it creates better players. And I think that’s what you’re seeing right now in Miami. And with Spo challenging Kell Wear, he’s laying the groundwork. He’s letting you know this guy is not guaranteed a a starting job. And I wouldn’t I wouldn’t rule out Bam starting at the five and Nico starting at the four, but also Nico has to come into training camp and prove it and earn it, too. So, these guys aren’t guaranteed playing time, but that means that they’re going to have to earn it and this team uh this front office and this coaching staff is letting them know. Um, how do you feel about Yakonis in the summer league? Uh, look, I think you’re seeing some of the reasons why he slid to 20. Um there are clearly concerns about his ability to separate. Um if he’s your lead ball handler, I think he can get in trouble if there are guys defending him on the ball picking him up full court. But this is why he was projected more as an offball guy. This is why you saw his NBA comps by scouts and draft experts as guys like Bogdan Bagdanovich and andrew Nehard and guys who are point guard-ish but not a primary typical number one ball handling scoring option. And I don’t think that’s who Yakonis is. I don’t think he’s going to be I don’t think he’s your starting point guard for a good offense. But I think he could be a good part of a good offense. Uh, as an offball guy, as a guy attacking the second side, working off more of a primary ball handler or ball handlers in the case of Miami, right, where they don’t have necessarily a traditional uh, primary ball handler, but it’s sort of by committee. They got a lot of guys who could do a little bit of it. And I think that’s Miami’s approach, right? They like the idea of every time down the court, maybe it’s Tyler, maybe it’s Norm Pal, maybe it’s Nico, maybe it’s Haime. you know, Bam can do the dribble handoff stuff from the top of the key. Maybe it’s Aatonis, maybe it’s Da’Von Mitchell, maybe it’s Wigs, right? They can kind of go in a lot of different directions and run their plays and run their sets through a lot of different guys. And I think that’s the idea. I think that’s more of a feature than a bug. At least that’s how the coaching staff is looking at it right now. And so, um, I think Yakonis will factor into that. But if you’re expecting him to be to come in and be Miami’s point guard of the future or something like that, I I think what we’ve seen in summer league is that that might not be his path in the NBA. But I like when his shot isn’t going in. He still plays really hard. Um I like the intensity defensively. He’s trying. He’s in the right spots. He’s competing on that end. There’s going to be some limitations on that end, but overall he’s really competitive. He knows where he needs to be. He’s a smart basketball player. Um, I think having guys like that on your roster make you better typically. Um, so yeah, I think you’ve seen some of the reasons why he’s slid, but I think for me I’ve it’s it’s been a sobering summer league for Yakonis after the oh my god, we got this guy who could potentially be in the top 10. He slid all the way to 20. You’re seeing why he slid to 20. But at the same time, that’s okay. I think he’s going to be a good player. And but I do think that he’s probably picked too late. I think that there’s a he’s I think he’s going to be better than some players picked in front of him, but I think it’s a good fit. Um, and I think we’re seeing kind of just more more of who he is. Um, all right, that’ll do it for me right now. I got to leave and head to the airport, but thanks so much for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. I’m going to be back uh either later tonight or tomorrow morning with my co-host David Ramil for a full episode of Lockdown Heat where I’ll get his thoughts on Summer League. you’ll get more of my thoughts on Summer League and uh we’ll we’ll talk a little bit about the game tonight. So, thanks so much again for tuning in. Hit that subscribe button. Uh like the video, comment, let me know what you think about Miami Summer League so far, what you think about Eric Bolster’s comments about Kell Wear and all these things. Uh make sure you follow us on your favorite podcast app. Uh, and thanks for making lockdown on heat your first listen every

Miami Heat center Kel’el Ware responded to Erik Spoelstra’s challenge by playing his best all-around game of Las Vegas Summer League so far, finishing with 21 points and nine rebounds. Wes Goldberg breaks down his game, his comments after and answers questions about Kasparas Jakucionis, Terry Rozier and more.

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