South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Powell to coach Heat’s G League affiliate
Former Miami Heat forward Kasib Powell on Thursday was named coach of the team’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
Powell, whose lone NBA experience was 11 games for the Heat at the end of the 2007-08 season, had been serving as an assistant for the Skyforce since 2016.
The Skyforce were inactive last season, when the G League held a truncated, one-month schedule in a quarantine bubble setting at Disney World due to the pandemic.
Eric Glass, who coached the Skyforce in 2019-20 until the league shut down in March 2020 due to the pandemic, has since returned to the staff of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
Among others who have coached the Skyforce in recent years are former Heat assistant coaches Dan Craig and Pat Delany.
“I’m honored to be named head coach of such a great organization, with so much history and prestige,” Powell, 40, said in a statement. “I look forward to guiding these young men to be the best they can be, both on and off the court. I’m excited to have such a supportive community, and I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to continue a legacy and add to it as well.”
Powell had assisted Heat assistant coach Malik Allen during summer league in August, spending time with the Heat during training camps and summer leagues in recent years.
The Heat are expected to be heavily involved in the developmental program in Sioux Falls this season, with four players on the current camp roster who are expected to be shifted to the Skyforce roster as part of their Exhibit 10 camp contracts: Micah Potter, Javonte Smart, Dru Smith and D.J. Stewart. All four went undrafted in July.
The Heat also have undrafted Kansas guard Marcus Garrett and former Charlotte Hornets guard Caleb Martin under two-way contacts. Those two can be on the Heat roster for up to 50 games of the 82-game NBA regular season, with the rest of their time to potentially be spent with the Skyforce. There also is the possibility of Heat rookie center Omer Yurtseven spending further time in the G League.
“Kasib is perfect for this role and for this city,” said Eric Amsler, the Heat’s director of player personnel and general manager of the Skyforce. “He has been ingrained in Sioux Falls as a player, as an assistant coach, as a father and family man, and now gets to lead our Skyforce.”
As a member of the Skyforce in 2007-08, Powell, in his 40 appearances, averaged 22.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists, named Most Valuable Player of the G League that season, the first player in franchise history to do so.
Powell and his family have lived in Sioux Falls since his retirement as a player in 2012.
In April 2016, he became an inaugural inductee into the Sioux Falls Skyforce Hall of Fame, joining coach Mo McHone, executive Tommy Smith and former guard David Bailey as the lone four members so recognized to date.
Powell’s professional playing career ran from 2003, when he went undrafted out of Texas Tech, to 2012, with extensive time playing overseas, in Serbia, Greece, Bosnia, Russia, China, Israel and Hungary.
Powell becomes the 21st coach in the Skyforce’s 32 seasons and the sixth consecutive coach selected by the Heat following Miami’s single-affiliation partnership with the Skyforce in 2013.