Heat experiment going big — Whiteside, Olynyk
MIAMI — It was an odd experience for Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside, being able to look a teammate directly in the eye at the opening tip, as was the case Saturday against the Orlando Magic, with Kelly Olynyk at power forward.
The last time Whiteside started alongside a fellow 7-footer? He paused. “Bosh is probably the closest thing to a 7-footer,” he said.
Close, but Chris Bosh officially was listed an inch shorter.
“I liked it,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the first minutes with Whiteside alongside Olynyk, the free agent acquired in the offseason from the Boston Celtics. “We looked more like a Miami Heat basketball team.”
Spoelstra was talking about the overall effort, but the big-body approach is nothing new for a franchise that has featured Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning.
The Bosh-Whiteside chemistry never particularly clicked for the Heat before Bosh was sidelined by blood clots.
But Saturday was intriguing.
“He’s a big big, and he’s a very smart,” Whiteside said of Olynyk. “His basketball IQ is really great. So it was really good having him out there.”
Spoelstra would not commit to whether it would be a regular-season approach, much less if it even will be the opening alignment in Monday’s exhibition against the Charlotte Hornets at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“I was comfortable with that out there,” Spoelstra said. “Everything right now, I’ll take a look and we’ll evaluate and I’ll make the decision whenever I make the decision. It might not be in concrete, but I like the way the grouped worked together.”
So did Whiteside, even in Saturday’s limited sample size.
“He made great basketball decisions, like a lot of our guys,” Whiteside said. “And I think as we play alongside each other, we get more used to it and we’ll get better at it.”
Whiteside thrived in the loss with 17 points and 15 rebounds, while Olynyk was uneven, with two points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Olynyk said he was careful to give Whiteside his space.
“Just spacing the floor,” he said, “seeing the spots wherever they are, looking to get him the ball in positions where he can succeed and make it easy for him so he doesn’t have to work for everything.”
The flip side of the equation is defending smaller opposing frontcourts. Magic power forward Aaron Gordon, a converted small forward, closed with 19 points Saturday on 9-of-14 shooting in just 21 minutes.
“You just got to be ready to move your feet and guys are going to shoot the ball and put it on the ground,” Olynyk said of defending on the perimeter.”
Dragic sits
Spoelstra indicated that Saturday’s night off might not be the only time off for point guard Goran Dragic during the preseason.
“There may be more,” Spoelstra said, with Dragic having spent September with Slovenia’s championship team at EuroBasket. “I don’t know if I’ll play him the rest of the way.”
Dragic said he appreciated the break.
“If I’m honest, we need to talk about the future, about the next upcoming games,” Dragic said of the remaining preseason schedule.
Limited to 6:26 of action Saturday, Tyler Johnson warned not to read anything in wearing a stim device on his knee during the game.
“I’m good,” he said. “I wasn’t going to go back in the game. We talked about it. I wasn’t going to go back in, and so I figured I might as well just get treatment on it.”