Waiters expected to go tonight despite ankle injury,
MIAMI — Dion Waiters is expected to play tonight against Indiana after coach Erik Spoelstra said he is feel- ing better after re-injuring his left ankle in the Heat opener.
Waiters was held out of contract drills during Friday’s practice but he will participate in shoot-around before the 8 p.m. home opener (Fox Sports Sun).
“He did the non-contact work; he’s feeling better,” Spoelstra said. “We’ll do shootaround (today) and get ready to (tonight). We’ll manage it day to day. We’ll continue to get him out there and get him feeling right.”
The news was welcomed considering Miami will be down two players, including center Hassan Whiteside who suffered a bone bruise in his left knee during Miami’s 116109 loss to the Magic. Rodney McGruder is out indef- initely after having surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left leg.
Waiters, 25, tweaked the left ankle three times against Orlando. The first time was in the second quarter, when he tumbled into the basket support. Then, in the third quarter, he went to the locker room to have the ankle retaped.
The ankle has been an issue for Waiters since he sprained it on March 17. He missed the final 13 games of last season. Waiters then revealed during training camp that the ankle was still swollen and that he could have had surgery, but he decided against it because he would have been forced to miss eight to 10 months.
Forward Okaro White’s strained left shoulder is improving and the former Seminole participated in practice Friday. The Heat are waiting to see how he “responds after a night” before determining if he can play tonight.
Dragic to be honored: The Heat will honor Goran Dragic before tonight’s home opener with a video congratulating the point guard on being named MVP at the EuroBasket championships.
Dragic led his home country, Slovenia, to the title in a stunning upset. Slovenia defeated Spain in the semifinal and Serbia in the gold medal game in which Dragic scored 35 points and added seven rebounds and three assists in the victory Sept. 17.
Dragic averaged a teamhigh 22.9 points while lead- ing Slovenia to a 9-0 record in the tournament.
Dragic is downplaying the tribute, saying he’d rather get a win over Indiana.
“It feels good, but for me, this is all already over,” he said. “It’s been a long time. It is nice, of course, my par- ents are going to be here. They’re going to see it.”
This was Dragic’s fifth, and final, appearance at Euro- Basket. He said last spring he was retiring from inter- national basketball. Playing with the Slovenian national team has been a big part of Dragic’s summer routine during his NBA career. He has said playing during the summer has better prepared him for an NBA season.
“He’s a champion,” Spoelstra said. “I love the fact that Goran put himself out there, made himself vulnerable and really felt all the emotions, the angst, the joy, the frustration, the sleepless nights of getting ready for important games.
“Two nights before (the gold-medal game), Goran didn’t even sleep because he was so ready for the game. You only experience those things at that level when you really care and you really want to drive a team to win. He was able to do something really remarkable, it really was. For him to go through that experience I think will really help him as he helps lead us as a veteran leader of this team.”