Learning to talk the talk
Olynyk, Adebayo getting tutorials in Heat linguistics
OAKLAND, Calif. — Learning a second language is nothing new for Kelly Olynyk, required to take years of French while growing up in Canada.
Yes, he said, he can speak somewhat passable French. The challenge over these past few weeks, though, has been to speak somewhat passable Heat.
Asked which he is more fluent in at the moment, the outsideshooting big man smiled.
“Ooh,” he said, “that’s a good question. It’s probably even.”
With the majority of the Miami Heat roster returning, these past six weeks from the start of training camp have been a crash course in Heat linguistics for Olynyk and rookie center Bam Adebayo, the only newcomers to Erik Spoelstra’s rotation.
“I mean, it’s kind of just getting into their system,” Olynyk said in advance of the Heat’s Monday
night game against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena, the third stop on this six-game trip. “They do some stuff before practice just to get you up to speed, for the new guys, just to kind of reiterate and work on stuff, putting in offense, defense, whatever it is, for the new guys to kind of just get extra reps. That kind of just integrates smoother and faster than it otherwise would.”
Adebayo said the sessions have been invaluable.
“You consider it extra credit,” he said of arriving early and staying late. “So just getting in there for extra reps, then when you get in practice, you understand what you’re doing.”
The early grades have been uneven, Adebayo lately limited to brief cameo appearances, Olynyk not yet as impactful as initially anticipated.
“We’ve spent a lot of time before and after practices, and watching a lot of film,” Spoelstra said. “They’re really diligent and they both want to do things right. So they’ve spent a lot of time making sure that they feel comfortable and they can do what is necessary to do their job.”
Adebayo said it is a radical difference from his single season at Kentucky, with John Calipari essentially bringing in a new team every season in his one-and-done NBA draft factory.
“At Kentucky,” Adebayo said, “everybody is new, so you get to do it bit by bit. But here, we’ve got older guys, we’ve got vets, we’ve got dudes that’s been here three, four years. So just coming in, it’s difficult for me, but they’re behind me 100 percent.”
For Olynyk it is a radical departure from what he experienced under Brad Stevens the previous four seasons with the Boston Celtics.
“It’s pretty dissimilar,” he said. “They do a lot of things different than Boston. They have their own way for doing things and they’ve been successful with them.”
For Adebayo, everything has been different for the second time in as many seasons.
“During practice, I can stop and ask a question,” he said. “During the game, I think he makes it easier on me and calls plays that I know. But I feel like I know every play now.”
Spoelstra said he no longer views it as integration of the old and the new.
“They look very comfortable,” he said. “The more they practice with us and play games, you can see why we like them so much. But they’re both quick studies, so they pick up things very quickly.”
Olynyk said with each game he moves closer to the comfort zone he found with the Celtics’ system.
“I mean the more this goes along, every day you get a little more comfortable and it gets a little more habitual and instinctual rather than reactive,” he said. “And that’s kind of what you’re trying to get to. That’s what I was in Boston, was all habitual and instinctual systems.”
Now if he only could get that French down.
“You’re like obligated to take French in school growing up and stuff,” he said, raised in Englishspeaking British Columbia. “I spoke French. I did extended French kind of stuff. I wouldn’t say I’m fluent. I haven’t used it in 10 years, like since high school.”