Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Spoelstra offers clarity on two-way players
Coach Erik Spoelstra offered clarity Wednesday on the Miami Heat’s contrasting approach with their two two-way players.
Speaking ahead of his team’s game against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center, Spoelstra addressed the Heat assigning undrafted guard Marcus Garrett on Tuesday to the G League Sioux Falls Skyforce.
“He’s had a really good month and summer,” Spoelstra said of Garrett’s time with the Heat. “Now the next most important thing is to get some playing time. Training camp [this week in Sioux Falls] will be really good for him; he gets those extra practices and reps with the details, but then also plays some games.
“We’ll figure out how long. He’s going to be splitting time. So he’ll be going back and forth. This’ll be really good for him.”
Garrett, a 6-foot-5 defensive-minded guard who has yet to display an NBA-level offensive game, appeared in two of the Heat’s first three games, active for all three.
Under rules for two-way players adopted for this season in light of the pandemic, such players can be active for up to 50 of the NBA season’s 82 games.
Unlike Garrett, Caleb Martin, the Heat’s other two-way player, had appeared in 72 NBA games over the previous two season, when he was with the Charlotte Hornets. That makes it less likely the 6-foot-5 forward will be sent to the Skyforce, after already receiving G League seasoning while with the Hornets.
“He’s always on our mind,” Spoelstra said Wednesday. “So he has experience. I feel right now he’s a plug-and-play guy. We all feel very comfortable with that.”
In order to preserve and maximize Martin’s time on the NBA level, the Heat listed him as inactive for Monday’s home game against the Orlando Magic, to best utilize his 50-game allocation.
“I feel like he’s a great 3-and-D guy that can just fit right in,” Spoelstra said. “So he’ll be ready. He’s really been working.”
Banner night: The Heat announced Wednesday that they will honor center Bam Adebayo for his Olympic gold medal in a ceremony at halftime of Friday night’s game against the Charlotte Hornets.
As part of the event, a banner commemorating Adebayo’s gold at the Tokyo Games with Team USA will be raised to the FTX Arena rafters alongside previous Olympic banners for Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, when they won Olympic gold while members of the Heat.
Adebayo started all six games for Team USA in Tokyo, averaging 6.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.33 steals, 1.17 blocks, with +64 total plus/minus in an average of 19.3 minutes of action in the 40-minutes games, shooting .571 from the field. He led Team USA in offensive rebounds and total rebounds, and tied for the team lead in blocked shots.
The Kyrie saga: Add boxer Floyd Mayweather to those standing with Kyrie Irving’s decision to bypass a COVID vaccine, a decision that has the All-Star guard away from the Nets.
By New York City mandate, an unvaccinated employee is not allowed in Barclays Center for games such as Wednesday night’s against the Heat, with Irving listed as “Ineligible to play.”
In a video released Tuesday, Mayweather said, “America is the land of the free. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion and, supposedly, freedom to choose. I respect you for having some integrity and being your own man. A free mind makes his own choices. An enslaved mind follows the crowd.
“Stand for something, or fall for anything.”
The Heat’s second and final visit to Barclays is March 3, by when a new mayor could change New York’s policy or Irving could have a change of heart.
The only played sidelined for the Heat from Wednesday’s game was guard Victor Oladipo, who is recovering from May quadriceps surgery.