It was almost as if Kel’el Ware had boxed out Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on Sunday night in Orlando.
Six days earlier, in the wake of a statistically superior effort by his second-year center, Spoelstra pushed past Ware’s 18 points and 13 rebounds in that exhibition loss to the visiting Milwaukee Bucks and instead went to a place he rarely goes: to the single-game plus-minus rating, with the Heat outscored by 21 that night when Ware was on the court.
Fast forward then to Sunday night’s road loss to the Orlando Magic that dropped the Heat to 0-4 on the preseason. This time there was a 24-point, 10-rebound effort by Ware, a quality contribution with erstwhile effort. But the Heat also were outscored by 12 during Ware’s 24:26.
So, again, Spoelstra was asked how he took measure.
“I’m encouraged by it,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat moving on to Monday night’s exhibition against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.
From there, Spoelstra spoke of reducing the outside temperature when it comes to perspective on his motivation tactics with the soft-spoken big man drafted No. 15 out of Indiana in 2024.
“Look,” Spoelstra continued, “everybody has so much attention on him and what I’m going to say about him. He’s getting better. You can see the talent.”
Yes, there are moments when Spoelstra said the coach wants more, but it also isn’t for lack of wont by Ware.
“There were points in the game where there are swing points where it might be the play to make or the decision to make that’s not quite there,” Spoelstra said of a player who turned 21 in April. “But I would much rather coach somebody who’s willing to be coached, who can put up 24 and 10, and figure out how to get those winning moments during the course of a game. And that’s where we are.”
So, no, not a preferred plus-minus on Sunday night at Kia Center, but enough to hearten as Spoelstra works through his rotation decisions ahead of the Oct. 22 regular-season opener back at Kia Center.
“He did some impressive things,” Spoelstra said. “I love the way he was on the offensive glass, and we’ll just continue to work with him.”
All the while, Spoelstra did not back off the teaching points, including the foul trouble that left guard Pelle Larsson, the Heat’s other 2024 draft choice, with four fouls by the midpoint of Sunday’s second period.
“That’s part of learning the nuances of how to defend, use your aggressiveness, which is a strength of his,” Spoelstra said of Larsson. “But limiting and knowing when it’s too much. I think with more time, he’ll get better with that.”
Even with the foul trouble that included a fifth in the opening minutes of the second half, Larsson, taken in the 2024 second round out of Arizona, managed to close with 14 points against the Magic.
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“I mean two of those, really only two of those four were in the play when we were playing,” Larsson said of Sunday’s early foul trouble. “The other two were, one, I touched the guy on the forehead when he already had let the ball go. The other one, on the baseline out of bounds. So I don’t read too much into that right now. I think I’ve gotten a lot better.”
Larsson said he took stock of his foul trouble in the offseason.
“Just taking a step back,” he said of the new approach. “Like, you can be aggressive, but you’re not in there all the time. You’ve got to give space and time, and know when it’s going to hurt the team to be too aggressive. And then just get your hands out of there as much as possible.”
Mitchell back
The loss in Orlando was Davion Mitchell’s first action for the Heat since returning in free agency on a two-year, $24 million contract, having missed the end of camp and first three exhibitions with calf soreness.
“Preseason is kind of when you get your rhythm,” Mitchell said. “Especially with our new offense, kind of learn how to play the new offense. But for me, it’s just kind of just trying to find my rhythm. But I’ll figure that out in the next couple days.”
Mitchell played only in the first half Sunday, closing with two points and two assists in 9:59.
“You definitely feel his presence defensively,” Spoelstra said. “His point-of-attack defense is elite. What he really provided for us last year was that attacking, paint-touching nature. He’s really aggressive, and he makes a lot of good plays when he gets into the paint. All of that fits with what we’re trying to do.”
Another one down
As Mitchell came back, the Heat lost rookie first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis for the night in Sunday’s first quarter due to hip soreness.
“It is a little frustration,” said the guard drafted at No. 20 out of Illinois. “But these things I can’t control. So I’m just trying to control what I can control.”
Said Spoelstra, “He just goes so hard that things can happen.”
