Spoelstra pleased with first week
Defense, sharing of ball an extension of growth last season.
BOCA RATON — The Miami Heat had their final practice at Florida Atlantic University on Friday and will return once more for today’s scrimmage.
The Heat opened camp with two-a-days Tuesday, although the afternoon sessions were reserved for meetings and speakers. Coach Erik Spoelstra gave his team Friday afternoon off for a bonding barbecue.
Spoelstra was pleased with the first week.
“Very competitive,” he said. “Guys have been diligent about playing to our standards defensively. The guys that have been here have been able to really extend, not only just pick up, but extend where they took off last year just in terms of sharing the ball, making the game easier for other guys. I’ve been encouraged by the four days.”
Today’s scrimmage, which tips off at 11 a.m. at FAU, is sold out.
Miami then opens the preseason at 6 p.m. Sunday at American Airlines Arena against Atlanta.
“We’ ve been playing againsteach other long enough, so it’ s time to get after it and play other teams,” center Hassan Whiteside said.
Spoelstra has said from the start that camp would take on a different tone from last year, with the return of 11 players from last season’s roster.
Spoelstra said it allowed him to prepare for training camp “different than it was last year,” with more of a “practice setting quite naturally than a training camp install.”
“Hopefully, there will be some element of picking up where we left off last year while continuing to evolve. We won’t just stay where we were last year.”
Spoelstra wants to see the intensity continue in today’s scrimmage before the Heat start facing other teams.
“Our guys are pretty much ready to play somebody else,” Spoelstra said. “So we’ve got to do it one more day, but do it with some coherency and some discipline of thought. I expect that from my guys.”
With preseason one week shorter this year, the Heat will squeeze six games into 13 days.
Still, Spoelstra said he will treat each practice as if the team were in camp until the week of the regular-season opener Oct. 18 at Orlando.
“Even though preseason is a week shorter, training camp for me is all the way until those first couple of practices before the first game,” Spoelstra said. “All preseason, we’ll be in training camp.”
A staple of training camp is being gracious to the host when the Heat are away from Miami.
The Heat have allowed FAU student journalists to attend post-practice interviews. On Friday, Spoelstra was asked what advice he would give the FAU players.
Spoelstra said he would tell them to stay in the moment and commit to their team.
“The best moment is the now moment,” he said. “So often people are so focused on what’s next.
“If I could go back and play college basketball right now, I’d do it. There’s no better life than being in college, playing this dream game and doing it for the only time in your life you’ll be around your peers, your age group.”
Heat deny rep ort on offer to Reed: The Heat denied a report that center Willie Reed was offered a three-year, $15 million contract to stay in Miami.
According to ESPN, Reed was advised to turn down the offer by one of the 10 people arrested in the corruption investigation that has rocked college basketball.
Christian Dawkins promised Reed he could make more money, ESPN said. Reed, who had declined a $1.6 million player option to return to Miami, wound up signing a one-year, $1.5 million contract in August with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Reed, 27, has filed a $13.5 million arbitration claim, saying he was defrauded.
Dawkins worked for prominent NBA agent Andy Miller and his company, A SM, before being terminated in early May, yet he remained the primary ASM representative for Reed and other players.
Multiple clients have since severed ties with Miller.
The FBI investigation connected Dawkins to two separate fraud and bribery schemes, and he was indicted on four counts of wire fraud.
The University of Miami is one of the schools being investigated.
On Aug .6, three days after signing with the Clippers, Reed was arrested in Miami on a domestic violence charge. He was taken into custody before posting a $1,500 cash bond and was released to Heat forward Okaro White, Reed’s teammate last season.
Reed terminated his contract with Milleron the evening of July 11, ESP N reported. Dawkins represented Reed and others well after he was believed to have been fired for racking up $42,000 in Uber charges on an unnamed NBA player’s credit card.
Reed, the Heat’s backup center during his one year with the team, turned down his option, seeking a much larger payday. He made just more than $1 million last season and has earned just under $2 million in his two full seasons in the NBA.
Reed averaged 5.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in 71 games with the Heat last season. He is expected to back up starting center DeAndre Jordan with the Clippers.
Miller represents more than 40 current NBA players including Kristaps Porzingis, Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka and Myles Turner.