Heat back on Disney practice floor to prepare for restart
After arriving at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista on Wednesday, the Miami Heat opened preparation for the NBA’s season restart with a team practice Friday afternoon. Bam Adebayo and Kendrick Nunn did not participate.
For the first time in four months, the Miami Heat was able to hold a team practice Friday.
After arriving at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista on Wednesday night and fulfilling the required in-room quarantine upon check-in at the NBA bubble, the Heat held its first group practice Friday afternoon since March 10 in preparation for the resumption of the 2019-20 season. But the session did not include center Bam Adebayo and guard Kendrick Nunn.
Coach Erik Spoelstra said the team had a “full gym” for its first team practice since the season was suspended March 11 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but declined to say how many players were there and noted that those missing had an excused absence. However, guard Goran Dragic said to reporters after practice: “Hopefully Bam can come and K-Nunn and we can be a whole team and make some damage.”
The Heat has had three players test positive for COVID-19 since mandatory testing began on June 23, with 15 of the team’s 17 players making the Wednesday bus ride to Disney. Forward Derrick Jones Jr., who allowed for the release of his name following his positive test, was cleared in time to travel with the team.
The two Heat players who tested positive for COVID-19 last week remain in Miami and are expected to join the team in Central Florida at a later date when they are cleared to travel. The Miami Herald has not reported the names of the two players who most recently tested positive because they have not authorized their names to be released.
Although the full roster wasn’t available, the Heat was eager to get on the practice courts set up in a ballroom located at the team’s hotel — the Gran Destino Tower at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. Friday’s practice began a little later than expected because Heat players and staff were waiting for COVID-19 test results to come back, but this day-to-day and minute-to
minute uncertainty is the new normal for the 22 teams participating in the restart at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
“We’ve had virtually everybody on our roster involved with the player development workouts the last several weeks,” Spoelstra said during a postpractice Zoom conference call with media, referring to the individual workouts
NBA teams have been limited to since May. “But a lot of them never saw each other because we had to be very strict with the times and the protocols, and we didn’t change those times based on the NBA protocols. The guys that were working out at 8 a.m. never saw the guys that were working out at 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. the entire two months.”
But for Friday’s team practice, Spoelstra said:
“I’ve never seen a team move as fast as this group moved to be able to get to the gym . ... Guys were commenting about each other’s hair styles and how they looked different. You could just feel an incredible genuine sense of enthusiasm and joy for the guys seeing each other all in the same place at one time. The energy level, that just speaks to guys being in their rooms for basically two straight days and the excitement of getting out on the basketball court as a group again.”
Friday’s practice lasted about an hour and did not include full-contact work. Spoelstra said the plan is to begin full-contact drills in Saturday morning’s practice.
“Enjoy it, man. Enjoy it,” Heat captain Udonis Haslem said of the message he delivered to his teammates as they entered the NBA bubble. “I think there are a lot of different ways this thing can play out. But at the end of the day, we’re here, we’re together and we have an opportunity. I think everybody came with the right mindset today . ... Smiles, jokes and it was just like old times. I enjoyed it. I told the guys after practice that I missed these guys, man.”
Before Heat players and staff members were cleared to get on the practice court, each person needed to quarantine in their individual hotel rooms upon arrival until they returned two negative COVID-19 tests at least 24 hours apart. The quarantine lasted a little more than 36 hours after arriving at the Disney complex Wednesday night, and players were cleared to leave their hotel rooms just prior to the start of practice Friday afternoon.
The season is set to resume July 30 and end in October, with the Heat beginning its three-game scrimmage schedule July 22 against the Sacramento Kings.
Miami has three weeks to prepare for the start of its eight-game seeding schedule, which begins Aug. 1 against the Denver Nuggets. The Heat (4124) has already clinched a spot in the playoffs, which begin Aug. 17.
“The first two days were tough,” Dragic said. “You’re isolating in your room . ... Finally today, we got the news that we could go out for the first practice. Now it’s probably going to be a little bit different, a little bit easier. The situation is what it is. We just need to get used to it. But at least now we can go out of the hotel room and be outside.”
Fox Sports Sun will air all three of the Heat’s scrimmage games, but the second scrimmage (vs. Utah Jazz on July 25 at 4 p.m.) will be on tape delay on television while streamed live on the FOX Sports GO app. The first scrimmage game (vs. Sacramento on July 22 at 8 p.m.) and third scrimmage game (vs. Memphis Grizzlies on July 28 at 2 p.m.) will be shown live on Fox Sports Sun.
Fox Sports Sun will broadcast the Heat’s full eight-game “seeding” schedule, all live. All broadcasts will feature half-hour pregame shows, along with extended postgame coverage.