Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
White wants to stay
Team is 5-0 since forward signed short-term deal
CHICAGO — All he does is win, win, win no matter what.
Make it five games with the Miami Heat and a perfect 5-0 start as an NBA player for forward Okaro White.
Or, as now is becoming the running reference of preference, “Okar(5-)O White.”
“It’s amazing. It’s amazing how quick your life could change in a matter of days,” said the former Florida State forward who joined the Heat on a 10-day contract on Jan. 17. “Hopefully keep going, and we’ll keep the wheel turning and we keep playing Miami Heat basketball.”
While White has appeared in only the four most recent games of this five-game winning streak, his contributions have reached the point where there is little doubt there will be another 10-day contract to sign Friday as the Heat begin preparations for their game against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.
Wednesday night, White’s performance included the go-ahead 3-pointer with 58.6 seconds left in the 109-106 victory over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclay’s Center, then drawing a rebounding foul on the other end with 42.4 seconds left and converting a pair of free throws with that time remaining.
That the moments came on Flatbush Avenue, near the Flatbush section of Brooklyn where White was raised, only added to the moment.
“You love seeing guys have an opportunity to make plays like that in front of their friends and family,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It doesn’t always work out that way. But it is special. His life has changed pretty dramatically in a week.”
White said he has been able to make such a seamless transition from the Heat’s NBA Development League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, because of the close ties between the teams, as well as the time he spent with the Heat during the summer and then in training camp.
“One thing about trust, it comes over time,” he said. “It’s a direct correlation between the Miami Heat and South Dakota, in Sioux Falls. So as soon as I came down here, I got right back with the guys and everybody was like family again, the trust was built right back.”
Spoelstra said it reminds him of the instant impact Tyler Johnson made when called up from the Skyforce in the middle of the 2014-15 season.
“He’s been with us since July 8, through summer league, all summer long, preseason, training camp and then played in our system in Sioux Falls,” Spoelstra said of White. “So, when we needed, we’ve had so many injuries, we needed to call somebody up, felt very comfortable with him. And we still feel comfortable with a couple of other guys that are in Sioux Falls.
“But he’s kept himself ready. He understood that it was an opportunity to get better, more familiar with our system. It’s not a demotion or getting cut. It’s a transition when you go to Sioux Falls. And he handled it the right way.
“This game, with him, reminded me very similarly of Tyler Johnson two years ago in a home win against Sacramento. Tyler had 26 and just gotten the call up, but he had been with us, very similar, in summer league, training camp, and then throw him in there and becomes player of the game. But that doesn’t happen if there’s not an organizational commitment to player development.”