Scrimmage offers insight into lineup, Lowry
MIAMI — Unlike the NFL and the early analysis with the Miami Dolphins, NBA training camps largely are a closed-door process, with minimal opportunity for outside eyes to assess performance.
Friday was a rare exception, with the Heat holding a private scrimmage for a small group of invited youths from the JrHeat Miami Dynasty, an event in place of the team’s typical open scrimmage during non-pandemic times.
“This was the most scrimmaging we’ve been able to do all week,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “So we kind of wanted to build up to this and then let guys just run it out, even through some of the fatigue and some of the mistakes. It was really good just for our guys to get that continuity, feel for what it was like, up and down.”
So until Monday night’s first public viewing of what Pat Riley has assembled for 2021-22, when the Heat host the Atlanta Hawks in their exhibition opener, a few thoughts of what the Heat offered for consumption Friday on the team’s practice court at FTX Arena.
The opening lineup in each half for the “home” team was the starting lineup projected at the conclusion of free agency: Bam Adebayo at center, P.J. Tucker at power forward, Jimmy Butler at small forward, Duncan Robinson at shooting guard and Kyle Lowry at point guard.
“There are some things that I do want to look at lineup-wise and different combinations,” Spoelstra said. “We have a couple more weeks to look at some things.”
The Heat open their regular season Oct. 21 against the visiting Milwaukee Bucks.
Lowry ran his units with the type of precision the Heat banked
on when they extended a three-year, $85 million contract to lure him this offseason from the Toronto Raptors.
“It’s his world. We’re just living in it,” guard Tyler Herro said. “He’s going to make things better for sure.”
Said forward Max Strus: “He’s one of the easiest people to play with. He just gets everybody in their spots.”
Featured in Friday’s second unit, a squad that won the first half of the scrimmage, 44-30, were Dewayne Dedmon at center, Markieff Morris at power forward, Gabe Vincent at point guard and Strus and Herro.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys that can come off the bench and contribute in multiple ways,” Herro said.
That left KZ Okpala out of the scrimmage-opening mix, with the third-year forward arguably outplayed by two-way signee Caleb Martin.
Among supporting players, Vincent and Strus were particularly solid.
By contrast, neophyte center Omer Yurtseven struggled to offer any of the impact that had been on display during summer league, with the look of a player on the outside of the rotation.
Guard Victor Oladipo was held out of the scrimmage as he recovers from May quadriceps surgery, shooting jumpers during breaks in the action.
He was, however, active on the bench in support of teammates, at one point bellowing after a dramatic breakaway dunk by Strus, “That boy Strus the truth.”
Actually, Strus updated that truth, noting, “I think today might have been my first dunk all camp. I finally got one in transition.”
Herro also had a powerful slam, noting that it hardly was an exception for him during camp.
Besides Oladipo, one of the loudest of the voices was Tucker, if not the loudest.
“He definitely has that contagious-effort mold,” Adebayo said. “You see it when he’s playing defense. It’s like, ‘Damn, I need to pick my defense up.’ He just has that type of contagious impact to the game.”
Among those in attendance was Alexander Zverev, the 24-year-old German tennis professional who has been ranked as high at No. 3.
Zverev watched from along the bench, in town as a guest of Butler, who lately has taken an interest in tennis.
The scrimmage ended on a missed Robinson 3-pointer that could have given his team that second-half win. The score was reset for each half. Robinson loaded up on 3-pointers in the final quarter.