Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Spoelstra praises Dragic’s devotion
Heat coach says point guard takes losing hard
MIAMI — Goran Dragic never wanted to be Dwyane Wade. He just wanted to play alongside.
But times, as Heat fans realize all too well, change quickly in the NBA. And what you want and what you get often can take you to extremes.
That is where Dragic has resided this season, cast into a leadership role on and off the court, with Wade’s free-agent defection to the Chicago Bulls and yet another season played in the absence of Chris Bosh.
What it has afforded the Heat is a measure of the veteran guard that might not have surfaced if there wasn’t something like this 13-30 season. It’s a season that increasingly has called for games such as the heat’s 99-95 victory Thursday over the Dallas Mavericks, when Dragic scored 32 points on 11-of-15 shooting.
“This game means so much to Goran Dragic,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “When we lose, he doesn’t sleep. He takes it hard like a coach would. I get text messages from him about things that he thought he could have done better or differently, hours after the game. I just text him back, ‘Go to bed. Spend time with your family. We’ll see you tomorrow.’ That’s what you love about Goran.”
His had been a largely quiet, secondary role after he was acquired in the middle of the 2014-15 season from the Phoenix Suns. Wade would lead on the court and in the locker room. Bosh, until sidelined by blood clots, would offer the relief points, the very type of late-game midrange jump shots that Dragic must now offer.
Now there is no choice but to be leading man, to try to make sense of this season spent largely at the bottom of the standings.
“It was borne out of need,” Spoelstra said, “and he accepted it and admitted that at first, this isn’t necessarily his comfort zone previously in his career, but this team needed him to be more vocal, to take more ownership and responsibility, and hold guys accountable. They love it when they see his fire and see emotion for winning.”
Even with the losing record and swirl of trade rumors, it is a role the 30-year-old Slovenian has embraced.
“If I’m honest,” he said, “I feel even better here than in Phoenix. I like all my teammates. I feel like I’m in the right spot. My head is clear and I’m working hard to be a better player, a better teammate. Hopefully, I can contribute even more, be a big help.”
The external view when there hasn’t even been the ability to string together three consecutive victories — something the Heat will attempt to do for the first time tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks at AmericanAirlines Arena — is why bother?
For Dragic, the answer is as simple as those text messages: Why not?
“Sure, sometimes it’s hard after the game,” he said. “But this is my job. This is who I am.”
So he asks more of himself. “I feel like I never had this kind of communication with a coach before,” he said, “and it makes my job easier, because he tells me what he sees on the floor. I tell him what I see. And with that, we can correct mistakes. I feel like everybody should do that.”
Part of the message has been to step up when needed, take the midrange shot instead of giving in to playmaking instincts.
“I don’t know if anybody’s noticed,” Spoelstra said, “but he’s worked on so much on his game, first, which is most important for us.
“His game has evolved so much now, not just the 3-ball, but his ability to put the ball on the floor and hit midrange pull-ups. Those are the kind of shots that keep a defense honest. Oftentimes in close, fourth-quarter games, they’re the only shots you’re going to get. But he’s really improved that part of his game this year.”
Dragic said he is determined not to quit on this season, not to quit on himself.
“Usually that midrange shot, I was always doing step-backs. Not anymore. Now it’s like a rhythm shot,” he said.
“I feel like the older you get, the more you need to work on your game and try to survive with those young fellas.”