McGruder OK; Olynyk doubtful
Injured players focus on their conditioning
MIAMI – Clarity continues to come in limited doses for the Miami Heat. So a week since playing their most recent game, all that was available Wednesday from coach Erik Spoelstra was this: Rodney McGruder might play Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans; Kelly Olynyk most likely will not.
McGruder, who has been out since preseason leg surgery, went through all of Wednesday’s practice at AmericanAirlines Arena, his second full practice since being cleared.
Olynyk, who has missed the past four games with a strained left shoulder, did only limited work.
“Right now, we’ll list him as doubtful,” Spoelstra said of Friday’s game at the Smoothie King Center. “He did some noncontact work [Wednesday], a ton of conditioning, but not the contact part of practice.”
Spoelstra said no further medical tests have been required with Olynyk, and that surgery is not a consideration, adding that “he’s progressing forward.”
When asked about a potential return date for the productive big man, Spoelstra said, “Not even at that point right now.”
There is more optimism with McGruder, with the team making last season’s starting small forward available to the media for the first time since his preseason surgery.
“I’ve been doing a little more with practicing and just conditioning, preparing myself for when the time comes on my return, that I’m ready to play,” he said.
He said he was not sure when that would come.
McGruder’s other full practice came a week ago Monday, before the Heat’s two-game trip that was followed by the All-Star break. He said conditioning remains a concern.
“I’ve got to work a little bit,” he said. “Being off a couple of months, you just don’t hop right back into basketball shape, so I have some more conditioning that I need to work on.”
He said there also is a mental part of the return.
“I just try to focus on the game,” he said. “Because I feel like you hurt yourself thinking about the injury, because you’re holding yourself back a little bit.”
Just being back, practicing full court, conducting interviews, is, he said, victory enough at this stage.
“It’s been tough, but I’ve seen my guys having so much fun, I want to be out there with them,” he said. “And then we kind of hit a bumpy stretch. I want to be out there with ’em as well.”
Spoelstra said he will concern himself with an expanding list of rotation options when he actually has that expanded rotation to work with, offering nothing definitive about return dates for McGruder or Olynyk.
“I love that possibility,” he said of being able to reach 12 deep, with seldomused Jordan Mickey and Udonis Haslem and sidelined Dion Waiters beyond that mix. “That would be different than what we’ve been dealing with. But I would certainly love to have that challenge as a head coach.
“We thought about it. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
Spoelstra said having most of his available bodies back and having a legitimate playoff shot, restarting as the No. 8 playoff seed in the East, has cleared most of the gloom from the team’s 1-7 run going into the break.
“We feel really good about our opportunity and we love the fact that it’s going to be a competitive playoff race going down the stretch,” he said. “That’s what you want as a professional. And you wanted to be measured, you want to be tested, you want all the emotions that go with games that have meanings for both teams.
“There’s some things that we’re getting a lot better at, just need to get over that last hump.”