Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Spoelstra has big goals for Crowder
Spoelstra wants Crowder shooting from greater lengths
The goal isn’t necessarily to turn Jae Crowder into Duncan Robinson. But that doesn’t mean Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra isn’t considering going mad scientist with the 30-year-old veteran.
With Crowder having converted seven 3-pointers in his two starts heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Boston Celtics at the NBA’s Disney World restart, Spoelstra said he wouldn’t mind more.
In terms of distance.
“The most important thing,” Spoelstra said, “is he spaces the floor and he hits important ones historically over the course of his career. He seems to rise to the occasion. Yeah, I want him spacing the floor and shooting with great confidence.
“If anything, I want him to shoot from deeper range, to help widen the court for us. He has range to 25 feet. I would love him for him to space out there and shoot a couple of those a game.”
Inserted into the starting power rotation in place of Meyers Leonard at the outset of the league’s resumption, Crowder shot 3 of 4 on 3-pointers in Saturday’s 125-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets. He then shot 4 of 10 on 3s in Monday’s 107-103 loss to the Toronto Raptors.
Crowder, who started all 45 of his appearances with the Memphis Grizzlies before being acquired by the Heat at the Feb. 8 NBA trading deadline and has 30 career playoff starts on his resume, said starting is secondary to the ultimate goal.
“I don’t get too caught up into starting the game,” he said. “I obviously would like to finish the game more than start the game. That’s my mentality.”
Home-road: Even with the remainder of the regular season to be completed on the neutral campus of the Wide World of Sports complex, the NBA still is recording statistics and results based on whether a game is deemed home or road.
For example, with Denver the designated home team Saturday, the Heat were credited with a road victory. By contrast, as the home team Monday, they were charged with a home loss … even though they were 230 miles from AmericanAirlines Arena.
Franchise and NBA home and road records will be recorded similarly.
The Heat’s designated road games at Disney were Saturday’s win against the Nuggets, as well as Thursday against Milwaukee, Aug. 12 against Oklahoma City and Aug. 14 against Indiana.
The Heat’s designated home schedule at Disney included the Monday and Tuesday back-toback set against Toronto and Boston, as well as Saturday against Phoenix and Aug. 10 against Indiana.
A big fan: Count Spoelstra as a big fan of the coaching casual look in the NBA bubble.
“I love it, I do,” he said. “It’s a lot less to think about. You just have to grab black shirt, black pants, and you’re ready to go.
“Not that I was that great with my suits. But it takes a little bit more thought when you have to wear suits.”
He said he wouldn’t mind it continuing when game play eventually returns to team arenas.
“Yeah, I do,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. I have no idea where this discussion will go, but
I can speak for our coaching staff. We’ve enjoyed it.”
Heat guard Goran Dragic said he is particularly proud of his “Ready for Change” sneakers.
“I love those shoes,” he said. “We all know what is going on around the world and I think that’s a great statement. The time is now to make a change.”
Secondary residence: Wednesday will mark four weeks in the Disney bubble for the Heat.
That has reduced much of the team’s face time with those beyond the bubble to FaceTime.
“I’m on phone calls, Zoom calls, FaceTime, whatever it may be, just to let people know just because I’m here it doesn’t change who I am or what I will be doing for everybody,” Jimmy Butler said. “I love my people. Obviously, I miss my daughter, but this is just a little bit of a sacrifice.
“But I’m happy to be here. I’m happy to be competing and be around this family of mine. But I can’t wait to get back to everybody else.”
The Heat will be in the Disney bubble for at least eight total weeks, having already clinched a playoff berth, with the NBA postseason to open Aug. 17.