MIAMI — The double standard is real, undeniable, with no apologies offered. Erik Spoelstra is driving his younger players harder than his veterans amid this uneven Miami Heat season.
By design.
For their own good.
“You better have a season of a bunch of ups and downs and adversity and times where you’ve had to earn minutes as young players to understand, ‘OK, this is what impacts winning. This is what doesn’t impact winning, and there’s going to be a consequence,’ ” Spoelstra said. “It should be the same thing for the veteran players.”
Should, but there also is the reality of the veterans previously having learned such consequences, moments the Heat’s neophytes have yet to experience.
“Obviously, it’s not all apples to apples,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat moving on to Monday night’s game against the Utah Jazz at Kaseya Center. “The experienced players probably get a little bit more of a leash as they should. But as developing young players, I just think they develop faster when they understand there’s accountability to whether it’s leading to winning or not.”
That, in turn, Spoelstra said, creates a next generation of leadership, something he said already has become the case with the likes of recent draft picks Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Pelle Larsson.
“In developing these young players, we’re also developing these guys to take on more of a leadership role,” Spoelstra said. “And that’s Jaime, and his voice is growing. I think Pelle, for sure, as a young player, has gained more confidence from the locker room to be more of a leader.
“And then all the rest of the guys, even if it might not be steady like this, guys have gotten better as the season has gone on, all the young guys I’m talking about. So that part is exhilarating.”
To Spoelstra, without creating winning players, there is no way to prepare for winning time.
“This has been our culture for 30 years, and I’m a caretaker of this culture, so that ain’t going to change,” said Spoelstra, with the Heat concluding their schedule ahead of the All-Star break with Wednesday night’s road game against the New Orleans Pelicans. “It allows us to develop winning habits and accountability that people may not understand if you’re not in the building, but you’re accountable to things that lead to winning, so that when you are in a seven-game series, it can’t just be turned on then.”
Not punitive
Spoelstra said despite forward Keshad Johnson being sent to the G League, the NBA hope for the second-year athletic forward remains real.
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“He hasn’t gotten as many opportunities as some of the other guys, but we are just as excited about his improvement,” Spoelstra said of Johnson, 24, who is in the final year of his contract, to hit free agency in July. “He really has grown a lot in a year and a half. He’s becoming way more reliable as that 3 and D guy that can give you athleticism, can guard a lot of different positions. He’s been steady in his development in our defense. His offense is improving. His shooting is really improving.
“He’s going to go to Sioux Falls, get a couple games in. Those opportunities that he’s had there have been pivotal.”
From there, Johnson will head to All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, to compete in the dunk contest Saturday.
Slight change
The Heat have changed the injury designation for Larsson, who missed Sunday’s victory in Washington with what was listed as an elbow contusion. That has subsided, with Larsson now listed with a forearm strain . . .
Former Heat center Kevin Love was listed as inactive Monday by the Jazz for rest in what would have been his first game back in Miami after being dealt in July in the trade that delivered Norman Powell to the Heat.
A potential Utah buyout candidate, Love would not be allowed to return to the Heat because he was dealt by the Heat to the Jazz during the current cap calendar.
