Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Jones soars then sits amid rotation roulette from Heat
MIAMI — A week earlier, Erik Spoelstra spoke on this same practice court about how Derrick Jones Jr. was forcing his hand when it came to the Miami Heat rotation.
Wednesday, Spoelstra addressed holding the emerging forward out of the rotation in Tuesday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets.
“It felt like we needed a little bit of a scoring punch,” Spoelstra said.
That had Dion Waiters back in the mix after two games of being planted to the bench and Jones out of the mix after 15 consecutive appearances.
“He’s been through it this season already with us,” Spoelstra said. “He understands it will come around his way again.”
Jones not only had appeared in those 15 consecutive games prior to Tuesday, but had played 20 or more minutes in 11 of them. It was just the second time he had not played due to “Coach’s Decision” since Nov. 25.
“I’m just prepared for anything and wait for my name to be called,” Jones said after Wednesday’s practice at AmericanAirlines Arena, as the Heat turned their attention to Thursday’s nationally televised appearance by the Boston Celtics.
Jones said there was no advance warning by Spoelstra, nor did there need to be.
“Nah, he just told just [me] to keep doing what I’m doing, always stay ready,” he said. “And that’s what I’m going to do.”
Spoelstra routinely has gone 10 deep in recent games, the rotations decisions altered by the knee surgery expected to keep starting point guard Goran Dragic out until the midFebruary All-Star break. But that still meant no playing time for Jones and Wayne Ellington against Denver.
Asked if he could envision an 11-player rotation, Spoelstra said. “I don’t know. Whatever’s necessary. But that’s focusing on the wrong thing right now.”
Although he had broken free for what could have been an open jumper off the Heat inbounds pass with 2.4 seconds left and his team down two against the Nuggets, Waiters said he was onboard with the alley-oop attempt to Josh Richardson.
Kelly Olynyk’s pass went out of bounds on the play.
Waiters said he appreciates there also will be calls for Dwyane Wade in such situations amid Wade’s retirement season.
“Coach will be the one that draws plays up and things like that,” Waiters said “Of course, with DWade, we already know what he’s done, time in and time out, big-time shots over his career. Josh, you know, is developing into that, confidence to take that shot.
“I’ve got all the confidence in the world in DWade. Take the shot. It’s ‘One Last Dance,’ so why not go out with a bang? So I don’t have any problem with that, at all. Take turns. You get a crack at it; I get a crack at it.”
Spoelstra said it was a startling moment when a spectator wearing a Wade replica jersey ran onto the court and grabbed the ball following the first of two free throws by Nuggets guard Jamal Murray with ninth-tenths of a second to play in Tuesday’s game.
“I thought security did a great job getting him off the court,” he said. “There’s no place for that in this game, in sports. It’s scary when you don’t know.
“It ended up being innocent, but you really don’t know what that could lead to. I think league-wide everybody will be a little bit more vigilant.”
Spoelstra compared it to a spectator in Cleveland running on the court wearing a T-shirt pleading for LeBron James’ return to the Cavaliers.
“We had that before, obviously, in 2013. I remember that well,” he said. “That was scary. Even when it’s innocent, it’s not funny and it’s not acceptable.”