Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Team is worried about Dragic’s mental fatigue because of his extended run in Euro Basket.
MIAMI — The body is ready and willing, but the concern for Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is getting Goran Dragic’s head clear before the Oct. 18 regular-season opener against the Orlando Magic.
Spoelstra held out Dragic for the second consecutive exhibition Monday and left open the possibility of holding his starting point guard out for the remainder of the preseason.
“This is all relatively part of the plan I had sketched out, that I wanted him to be in training camp,” Spoelstra said of making those sessions at Florida Atlantic University the priority in light of Dragic’s quick turnaround from last month’s championship run with the Slovenian national team at EuroBasket. “We had a couple of light days for him. But I wanted him to be there and he really wanted to be there, too, just to establish the right tone out of camp.
“We want to try to strike that balance of keeping him in shape and make sure he’s peaking for the first game and not going the other way, and I think we’re heading that way.”
Spoelstra said Dragic arrived in shape to play regular rotation minutes, but with a bit of an emotional hangover from his role as captain of Slovenia’s storybook success.
“We know what it’s like to put that much emotion into something,” Spoelstra said, having coached the Heat in four NBA Finals on the way to two championships. “And that’s really what the fatigue is. It’s not the physical fatigue. He’s in unbelievable shape. He’s ready to play a playoff game as soon as he came back. But when you truly invest emotionally into something, and put yourself out there for the pain or the joy or the criticism or all that stuff, that’s something that you can’t quantify, but it’s there, it’s real.
“That’s why I loved him going through that experience. He was really passionate about driving that team to a championship.”
The Heat’s final two exhibitions are Wednesday at home against the Washington Wizards and then Friday in Kansas City against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Each day we’ll evaluate,” Spoelstra said shortly before Monday’s exhibition against the Charlotte Hornets at AmericanAirlines Arena.” Because want to make sure we’re peaking him for that first game.” crackdown on traveling violations, particularly when players catch the ball and then immediately go in motion.
It is a focus that has somewhat perplexed Spoelstra.
“The catch-and-goes, I mean you’d have to watch those in slo-mo every single time,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat having their annual officiating session Monday morning. “I think the ones where most traditionalists are most up in arms about are when a rockerstep player changes his pivot foot, that one and then running with the ball after a dribble, three steps. I mean the catch-and-go? In my opinion, I don’t know how many people really have an issue with that, but that’s the one they’re calling the most now.”
Spoelstra’s perspective: Why slow down a game the league is attempting to speed up?