Wade on Spoelstra’s job of managing Heat’s rotation: ‘I don’t envy his position at all’
What’s tougher than being part of a roster that features 13 rotation-level players vying for minutes? Managing that roster.
That’s the position coach Erik Spoelstra is in.
With the Heat using a 10-man rotation for most of the season, there’s just not enough room to play everybody. It has forced Spoelstra to constantly tinker with the rotation, as he has yet to find a set combination with the Heat playing its 49th game of the season Wednesday against the Bulls at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“The rotation is complex,” Spoelstra said. “I’m the first to admit: I don’t know if I am making the right decisions, but there has to be a decision at some point and so somebody is going to have to sit.”
Before starting in Sunday’s win over the Knicks, sharpshooter Wayne Ellington had been an active scratch in 13 of the Heat’s previous 15 games. Center Kelly Olynyk received two did not play-coach’s decisions last week. And Rodney McGruder went from starting 44 of the first 45 games to coming off the bench.
Spoelstra has even trimmed Miami’s rotation to nine and expanded it to 11 recently. Injuries have only forced more changes, with 12 Heat players combining to miss 157 games this season because of injury, illness or a personal reason entering Wednesday.
Starting point guard Goran Dragic missed his 23rd consecutive game Wednesday because of a right knee injury that required surgery, and shooting guard Dion Waiters returned earlier this month after missing the first 35 games of the season because of ankle surgery. Now, forward Derrick Jones Jr. is expected to be sidelined more than six weeks with a knee injury.
“I wouldn’t want to be in his position. Coaching is hard, man,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said of Spoelstra’s job. “It’s easy coaching when you don’t have much talent on your team. But if you have guys who have talent and can help you play, it’s tough. We got a lot of guys who coach can play, and you can’t play everybody. It’s not possible if you want guys to be in a rhythm, if you want guys not to be angry all the time because they’re not getting the minutes and they’re getting pulled here and there. It’s tough.”
So tough that Spoelstra called his decision to keep Ellington out of the rotation during the last month “the most challenging, most difficult, maybe of my entire career.”
“I know it kills [Spoelstra],” Wade said. “I mean, Wayne Ellington hadn’t played [much] before [Sunday’s win over the Knicks]. I know that’s tough. When you’re trying to get to a lineup that you feel guys can be comfortable with a rotation and you got to decide who’s not going to be in that rotation, that’s tough. So I definitely don’t envy his position at all.
“We talked about it when we sat down at my house and we talked about me coming back, I knew that the roster, I was going to be another person that was added to that mix and I was going to take some minutes from guys. But you say that’s why he gets paid the big bucks, but it’s not easy, man.”
Wade’s advice for Jones
As a player who has dealt with bone bruises in the past, Wade has advice for Jones.
Jones was diagnosed Monday with two right knee bone bruises and is expected to be out at least six weeks. Wade battled bone bruises in his knee during Miami’s 2013 run to the Heat’s third title.
“Just take his time to get back,” Wade said of his advice to Jones. “That’s something you don’t want to come back too soon and you have to deal with it because it takes bone bruises awhile to heal. For you to be healthy and do the things you want to do on the court, you want to make sure that you’re fully healthy. When I had my bone bruises, we were in the playoffs and Finals. I couldn’t sit out and heal like I needed to. But it definitely hindered the way I could perform because of it. I just want him to take his time.”
Will Heat be represented All-Star Weekend?
With Bam Adebayo not chosen to participate in All-Star Weekend’s Rising Stars Game, will the Heat completely miss out on All-Star Weekend?
At this point, the Heat’s best chance to be represented in Charlotte is for Wade to be voted in as a reserve for the Feb. 17 All-Star Game. The coaches determine the seven reserves from each conference, which will be announced Thursday.
Another possibility is for Wade to take part in the Skills Challenge, a competition he’s participated in three times and won in 2006 and 2007.
Jones had a chance to be chosen for the Slam Dunk Contest. But after suffering a knee injury Sunday, that possibility has been eliminated.
The only time the Heat was completely shut out of All-Star weekend since 2000 was in 2017.
▪ Wade missed Wednesday’s game against the Bulls because of right knee soreness.
This story was originally published January 30, 2019 at 10:31 AM.
