Jones says he’s fully back from COVID-19 bout
When Derrick Jones Jr.
tested positive for COVID-19 during tests conducted on June 23, he wasn’t sure how his body would respond.
But three weeks later, the 23-year-old forward was practicing with the Miami Heat as the team prepared for the resumption of the season at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World.
Jones was cleared to travel with the team and enter the NBA’s Central Florida bubble last Wednesday after returning multiple consecutive negative COVID-19 tests prior to the trip.
“Physically, it didn’t have the impact that I thought it would,” Jones said on a video conference call with reporters following Tuesday’s practice.
“My first day back in the gym, it was just like my last. I didn’t take no days off, really. Like my shot was still the same. My condition was still the same. Everything was all up to par, like it was. But physically I felt great. I never felt a symptom at all.”
Fifteen of the Heat’s 17 players made the bus ride to Disney last week.
Guard Goran Dragic said Friday the Heat was without center Bam Adebayo
and guard Kendrick Nunn.
The Heat has had three players test positive for COVID-19 since mandatory testing began June 23. Jones was cleared to travel with the team, but the two Heat players who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month remain in Miami and are expected to join the team in Disney at a later date when they are cleared to travel.
The Miami Herald has not reported the names of the two players who most recently tested positive because they have not authorized their names to be released.
“I’m happy to be here,” Jones said of joining his Heat teammates at Disney. “I’m happy to be playing basketball back with my guys, just being able to see my guys every day now, it’s better for me.”
Jones, who won the
Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star Weekend in February, has averaged career highs in points (8.9), rebounds (4.2), assists (1.1), steals (1.1) and minutes (24.5) in 51 games (15 starts) this season. He’s also an impending unrestricted free agent who is on the verge of the first sizable contract of his
NBA career.
“I wouldn’t want to be on any other team. I love it here,” Jones said.
“There are guys here who work hard every single day, night in and night out. Whenever we get time to be in the gym together, we always want to do it because we all feel like we all help each other in certain ways, and it’s working for us.”
Jones feels like that environment has helped him grow his game, especially on the offensive end.
“I feel like my jump shot got a lot better,” he said. “All of my game got a lot better, but mostly my jump shot, and just my decision-making on the offensive end. I feel like I got a little bit better on defense. I’m just going to keep doing exactly what I do, guard the best player, make his night a nightmare.”
FULL SCRIMMAGE
After an “off-day” from practice Monday, coach Erik Spoelstra said the Heat was “able to do a lot more five-on-five and scrimmage” on Tuesday. It marked Miami’s fourth practice at Disney.
Spoelstra said: “Yesterday was not a full day off, because we were able to have a meeting and cover things on the board, and that, in many ways, is just as important right now, as on the court. We were able to get after it a little bit more [Tuesday], and we’ll be able to continue that trend.”
GETTING REPS
Spoelstra added that the coaching staff will be “mindful of the reps” in practices leading up to the restart of the season when it comes to the Heat’s veterans.
“They want to get enough reps, where they feel like they’re making progress, getting in rhythm and also getting a solid connection with their teammates,” he said.
BULKING UP
Spoelstra said Heat rookie forward KZ Okpala has added 10 to 12 pounds since he was drafted in the second round last summer. The 21-yearold Okpala, who is listed at 6-8 and 215 pounds, has played in five games with the Heat and has spent extended time in the G League with the Sioux
Falls Skyforce this season.
“This is so important for him, right now,” Spoelstra said of Okpala’s time with the Heat in Disney. “He missed out on our summer league training camp, summer league, most of it, and missed out on most of our training camp last year. This is exactly what he needs. And I’m not even really in the evaluation mode right now, although I am really encouraged. He looks different. He has put on 10, 12 pounds. He has physically changed his body, and that’ll continue to happen. He’s learning the game, but he’s learning how to compete and do things at a more intense level with detail.”