Bam rejoins team on road as spectator

ORLANDO — A familiar face was back at Miami Heat practice on Friday at the Amway Center, with another sidelined face getting back to work back in Miami at FTX Arena.

Center Bam Adebayo, out until at least mid-January following recent thumb surgery, joined the team ahead of Friday night’s game against the Orlando Magic, interacting with teammates at the morning shootaround.

“Even him just getting on the bus, everybody was just perking up and picking their heads up from their phones and saying, ‘Good morning,’ ” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s a nice emotional boost for all of us to see him in there and put a smile on his face.”

With his right thumb in a splint, Adebayo did light ballhandling drills with his left hand alongside assistant coach Octavio De La Grana. He then lofted light jumpers straight up with his right hand, as a trainer looked on.

The plan as of Friday morning was to have Adebayo continue on with the team for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Pistons, the final stop of the four-game trip.

Back in South Florida, Butler, whose Friday absence made it nine of the last 10 games missed due to a bruised tailbone, was increasing his work. Armando Rivas, Butler’s personal team trainer, had been summoned back to Miami from Orlando.

“Yes, he’s been doing more,” Spoelstra said. “But I do not have a timetable or update of when he will be back.”

The expectation is that Butler will return to action next week, with the Heat opening a fourgame, eight-day homestand Tuesday against the Indiana Pacers.

Bonus time

Spoelstra said Friday one benefit of having to go with younger players is the ability to have film study from meaningful moments.

“It’s always easier to go over teaching points when the guys have actually played in the game and have played meaningful minutes, when it’s not just those minutes at the end of a blowout,” he said. “There’s a lot of context to the teaching points to those minutes.

“And then, obviously, the human-nature part of it, any film session tends to be better received after a win.”

Undrafted rookie Marcus Garrett said the playing time during Wednesday night’s victory over the Philadelphia 76ers resonated.

“Knowing that was a meaningful game, I came in, got a couple of rebounds, and tried to defend and make it hard,” he said Friday. “It was different, my first time not playing in garbage time. I was excited. It felt good.”

The minutes have come with Garrett dealing with tendinitis in his right wrist.

“Still taking regular treatment,” he said.

Transformative change

Spoelstra said Friday what made Gabe Vincent’s career-high 26-point performance Wednesday in Philadelphia all the more impressive is the transformation the third-year guard has made from shooting guard who occasionally shifted to point guard, to a point guard who at times plays as shooting guard.

“He’s really worked at it, and he’s been willing and open to accepting a different kind of role and becoming a different kind of player,” Spoelstra said. “When we initially signed him in the G League, he was a gunslinger, a two-slash-one, and we’ve turned him into more of a one-slash-two, and to really be a committed versatile defensive player.

“He’s bought into that whole process. But during all of that, we haven’t forgotten about who he is instinctively. He’s a scorer instinctively.”