Spoelstra’s decree to Babbitt to ‘let it fly’
MIAMI — Erik Spoelstra immediately reminded Luke Babbitt of the ground rules, making sure nothing got lost in the translation in the intervening months the once-and-again Miami Heat outside-shooting power forward was away from the team.
“I was walking out of the gym and he was working on some shot fake,” Spoelstra said of Friday morning’s shootaround at AmericanAirlines Arena.
That’s when he reminded Babbitt that he’s not with the Atlanta Hawks anymore.
“Hey,” Spoelstra told Babbitt, “leave that shot fake outside this building. Let it fly.”
While the addition of Babbitt in exchange for injured forward Okaro White was under the radar amid the Heat’s re-acquisition of Dwyane Wade, Spoelstra said both of the team’s moves at Thursday’s NBA trading deadline were significant.
“It was very good to see Luke back here,” Spoelstra said.
With the Heat adding Kelly Olynyk at the start of free agency, Babbitt became somewhat redundant. But with Olynyk sidelined with a shoulder injury sustained in Monday’s loss to the Orlando Magic, the Heat again have the option of outside shooting at power forward.
As he has with Olynyk, Wayne Ellington and the team’s other 3-point shooters, Spoelstra stressed a nolimits approach when it comes to launching from beyond the arc, even if Babbitt’s total gets upwards of 15.
“Fifteen? That sounds good to me,” Babbitt said with a smile outside the Heat locker room. “We’ll see what happens. I’m going to play the way I always play, try to space the floor for these guys, give ‘em driving lanes, play hard on defense and the shots will come.”
Babbitt said he appreciated the Heat’s priorities in the offseason that instead led him to a one-year, partially guaranteed contract with the Hawks, even after helping the Heat to a 30-11 finish last season.
“It was a difficult offseason leaving these guys, but that’s the business of it and kind of in the past now,” he said. “I haven’t really dwelled on it. I was happy to be in Atlanta, enjoyed my time in Atlanta, a great group of guys over there, great coaching staff, a young team that’s obviously improved a lot over the years. So that was a different experience for me, and I bring that experience here now and I’m thankful to be back.”
The hope is to pick up where he left off last season, spacing the floor for teammates such as Hassan Whiteside, Bam Adebayo, Goran Dragic and Josh Richardson for the Heat’s post-up game and penetration game.
“It’s great to be back. It almost feels like I never left. It really hasn’t been that long in terms of months,” he said. “It felt a little weird coming in, but as soon as we got going during shootaround, it was just like old times and great to see all the guys, all the coaches.”
Richardson joked that the mostly reticent Babbitt was back to his usual bombastic self.
“Yeah, Luke was very not talkative as always,” Richardson said with a smile. “He was like, ‘What up dog?’ That’s it.”
The irony is that among the Heat’s bad losses this season was one to Babbitt’s Hawks. He said he would take the blame if the Heat miss the postseason by a tiebreaker for the second consecutive season.
“We’re right in the middle of a playoff race, so having that motivation for every day, every game, going from Atlanta, a rebuilding team, to a team like we are brings excitement every night,” he said.
He also appreciates that he hardly is the man of the moment, that he again could face a limited-minutes Heat fate, just as he did last season, even while playing as a starter.
“I’m the trade acquisition that all this hype for, right?” he joked. “No, it’s great having Dwyane Wade. It’s a long time coming and we missed him last year, so I’m happy for him, happy for the city.”
iwinderman@sunsentine l.com or Twitter @iraheatbeat