Heat encouraged by progress made in camp

WEST PALM BEACH — Returning to a culture of demanding excellence was a goal Heat coach Erik Spoelstra stressed during the team’s training campopening media day.

And with the way the coaches and players were encouraged after the team’s training camp wrapped up Saturday at Keiser University in West Palm Beach, it sounds as if the Heat made progress toward that goal.

“I had an idea about them coming into camp and they’ve lived up to some of those initial thoughts,” Spoelstra said. “This group is a very ambitious, hard-working and determined group. They’re not afraid of putting in the time or putting in the work.

“We have a lot of hungry guys. This week was a step in the right direction of getting a bunch of ambitious guys to try to get on the same sheet of music. That’s going to be a process, but it was a good week to get going in that direction.”

Spoelstra made it clear that the commitment to toughness and competitiveness will be expected out of this year’s team. It’s a reason why nobody on the team was really surprised by the effort during camp.

“I expected us to be gritty and just have that toughness,” Dion Waiters said. “I knew coming in what it was going to be like. It’s a bunch of dogs.”

James Johnson remained away from the team for the fifth consecutive day of training camp on Saturday because he fell short of the Heat’s conditioning requirements.

Kelly Olynyk was sidelined during camp, recovering from a bone bruise he suffered on his right knee while playing for Team Canada in August. But Spoelstra expects Olynyk to be ready at some point during the preseason.

Goran Dragic participated in the final day of camp after sitting out Thursday for rest and being limited to non-contact work Friday.

“This is just the beginning,” Dragic said. “If I look back, I didn’t have real contact training for four or five months.

“The body needs to get used to it. I did it the first two days — I did a lot — and then yesterday I was basically out and today I’m back. It depends on how I feel, but so far so good.”

With training camp behind them, the Heat will turn their attention to their annual Red, White and Pink intrasquad scrimmage at 4 p.m. on Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Tickets for the scrimmage are available for $1 at Heat.com and through the team’s app. The team’s store will sell a special Court Culture T-shirt for the event and the proceeds from the game will benefit the Miami Cancer Institute.

With the Heat playing only five preseason games, Spoelstra said he’ll use the scrimmage to evaluate different combinations, production and the team’s system.

“We’ re going to approach it as a big opportunity to get on the same page,” Spoelstra said. “We only have five preseason games. One of those I probably won’t play everybody, so you’re talking about four games where you really get an opportunity to look at guys. There are less than three weeks till the opener.

“We have to take advantage of every live session.”

MIKE STOCKER/SUN SENTINEL Justice Winslow lines up his shot during practice on the second day of Heat training camp at Keiser University Flagship Campus in West Palm Beach.