Heat affected by Orlando summer league’s demise

Miami will aim to maximize offseason games in Las Vegas.

MIAMI — The Heat’s summer plans will change next year.

Miami participated in the Orlando and Las Vegas summer leagues in recent years, but The Orlando Sentinel reported Saturday that the Magic will not hold their annual summer league in Orlando next year and will participate instead in the NBA-run summer league in Las Vegas.

The move means the Heat’s only future summer-league action could come in Las Vegas. The Utah Jazz also have their own summer league, with games held before the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Coach Erik Spoelstra said in advance of Sunday’s game against the Pacers that the Heat have not thought about starting a replacement summer league in place of the cancelled Orlando league.

“I think the thought with the league is the Las Vegas Summer League is getting bigger,” Spoelstra said. “The majority of the teams go out there like us and you end up having close to two weeks of games there anyway. So we’ll just try to maximize that and see if we can get some more games. And I don’t know if we’ll be able to match the amount of games that we’ve had by doing both (Orlando and Las Vegas), but there are pros and cons.”

The popularity of the Las Vegas league played a role in the Magic’s decision. The Heat were one of eight teams to participate in the Orlando Pro Summer League this year and one of 24 teams to play in Las Vegas.

The Orlando league was closed to the public. The games in Las Vegas allow players to perform in front of crowds in two arenas on the UNLV campus — the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion.

The Magic have held a summer league 14 times since 2002.

“The pendulum is swinging toward teams playing in Vegas,” Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman told the Sentinel. “It’s a level of competition and a level of exposure when more or less every team in the league is there and you’re playing in front of 20,000 people as opposed to playing in a gym with a few hundred people.

“So it better prepares you for what NBA life is really about with the crowds, the pressure, the travel — a lot of what you’re going to have to confront. Obviously, it’s not a true test of an NBA season, but it’s a little taste.”

Defense playing well: It’s clear that the Heat’s defense is a strength this season. Miami ranked eighth out of 30 teams in defensive rating entering Sunday’s home game against the Pacers, allowing 102.4 points per 100 possessions. One of the biggest reasons for the Heat’s success on this end of the court is their interior defense.

Miami is limiting opponents to an NBA-best 53.9 percent shooting from within six feet of the basket. Teams are shooting 5.9 percent worse than their normal shooting percentage from within this range against the Heat.

Center Hassan Whiteside is playing a big role in Miami’s success in this area. Players are shooting 13.4 percent worse than their normal shooting percentage from within six feet of the basket when defended by Whiteside.

While the Heat’s offense continues to struggle with consistency, it looks like Miami will be able to rely on defense this season.

“Just in terms of the competitiveness, that has to be a staple for this team,” Spoelstra said after Friday’s win over the Wizards. “We probably won’t be one of those teams that’s scoring 130, 140 when you look at the scores at night, but we can be a team that can make it very tough on you defensively.”

Fewer minutes for Olynyk: Center Kelly Olynyk is averaging a career-low 18.7 minutes of playing time per game this season.

Olynyk has an “unlikely bonus” of $1 million in his Heat contract if he plays more than 1,700 minutes this season, according to ESPN. This would lift Olynyk’s 201718 salary from $10.6 million to $11.6 million.

Olynyk had played 280 minutes over the first 15 games of the season entering Sunday. That means he needed to play an average of 21.2 minutes the rest of the way to earn his bonus, assuming he plays in each of the final 67 games.

Three happy: Miami ranks fifth in the league with 31.5 3-point shot attempts per game this season. But the shots have not been falling at the desired rate: The Heat rank 21st in 3-point percentage, at 35.2.

Miami is on pace to shoot 2,580 3-pointers this season, which would set a new franchise record.