Q: Ira, let the kid play. Kel’el Ware played only 22 minutes and still got eight rebounds. – Enzo.
A: Let’s not cherry pick stats now. Kel’el Ware also played 22 minutes against the Magic and finished a game-worst -18. No other Heat player was worse than a -4. Do we need to go any further? Defensively, as Erik Spoelstra pointed out afterward, Friday’s starting lineup simply did not click. And that creates concerns about the Heat’s power rotation. Because if Kel’el is this uneven and if Nikola Jovic doesn’t play, then it comes down to Bam Adebayo or bust. As it is, there was some thought of Simone Fontecchio as an option at power forward, and he, too, has been off his game recently. The irony is that Precious Achiuwa arrives Saturday with the Kings. Would he have been the answer? Seemingly not. But if you only are going to trust Kel’el for 22 minutes and not trust Nikola at all, then your roster is flawed. Next week the Heat for the first time this season will have enough space below the luxury tax to sign another player to a standard deal.
Q: I feel like the Heat are regressing a little bit lately. You cannot win games by turning the ball over at the wrong times. You cannot win games by missing a lot of free throws. And you can’t win games by giving up many many 3-point shots. – Rolando, Borrego Springs, Calif.
A: Typically, this is what happens with upstart teams, you wait to see if there is a regression to the mean. We’ve already seen some of that lately from the Raptors, from the Hawks, and certainly from the Bulls. And now it’s losses in three of four for the Heat. So, yes, the little things become big things when you’re losing. But losing three of four is not the same as protracted losing. That would be the real concern, if this grows into that. For now, it’s all up in the air with the uncertainty with Tyler Herro.
Q: Can this team ever be fully healthy? – Nel.
A: The reality is that this is what the NBA has become, trying to play 82 games while also jamming in a week for the NBA Cup in December and then another week for the All-Star break in February. That’s a lot of games in otherwise not a lot of time. So even the nagging injuries become a case of pick and choose when it comes to when players sit and when they don’t. Also, because the Heat have so few national-television games, there is less scrutiny from the NBA when players are held out.