What will be Heat’s approach with Goran Dragic this season? ‘We want to keep him fresh.’
Goran Dragic hates taking time off.
The Heat point guard’s dislike for rest days is well known. The Heat calls them “spa days,” which is used for players who need a day to rest their bodies.
But as Dragic enters his 12th NBA season, he has accepted the need for rest days. During the Heat’s five-day training camp in West Palm Beach last week, the 33-year-old was held out of one practice and limited in another as a precaution after playing in a career-low 36 games last season due to right knee surgery.
Dragic did participate in Sunday’s Red, White & Pink intrasquad scrimmage, though, finishing with two points and two assists.
“I don’t like it, but I’m at that stage of my career that I’m going to need it,” Dragic said of rest days, with the Heat set to open its five-game preseason Tuesday against the Spurs at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“It’s about how I feel, how the knee reacts. For me it’s easy, I just listen to the professional people, [Heat athletic trainers] Brandon [Gilliam] and Jay [Sabol]. Those guys know.”
Dragic’s right knee is checked daily to make sure there have been no setbacks. He said there has been no major setback yet, but “sometimes you feel better, sometimes worse.”
When healthy, Dragic is one of the Heat’s top offensive players. He was named an All-Star in 2017-18, and averaged 17.3 points on 45 percent shooting and 4.8 assists that season.
After missing 31 consecutive games last season due to December knee surgery, Dragic returned in February to play in 22 of the Heat’s final 25 games. He averaged 12.7 points while shooting 41.6 percent from the field and 37.2 percent on threes, 3.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists during that 25-game span.
Dragic has started in 268 of the 282 regular-season games he has played in with Miami, and has averaged 32 minutes per game during the past four seasons. But 23-year-old Justise Winslow could challenge Dragic for a starting role this season, especially if the Heat decides to reduce Dragic’s minutes to keep him healthy and fresh.
With training camp including a rest day and a noncontact day, the question is: Will Dragic be on a “maintenance plan” this season? It’s still too early to determine that answer.
“Yeah and no. Depends,” said Dragic, who is entering the final year of the $85 million deal he signed with the Heat in the summer of 2015. “This is just the beginning. If I look back, I didn’t have real contact training for like four or five months. So basically, the body just needs to get used to it. I did it the first two days, I did a lot. ... It depends on how the knee reacts. But so far, so good.”
Coach Erik Spoelstra said: “We’ll see how he feels once we start playing games. He’s not 43. He’s still a young professional. But we want to keep him fresh, we want to keep him healthy, want to keep him playing strong. We’ll figure out something that’s appropriate for that.”
Despite only playing in 36 games last season, Dragic is not used to missing much time. He has played in more than 70 regular-season games in six of the past seven seasons.
But things change as players get older, and Dragic is starting to understand that.
“I’m feeling well,” Dragic said. “Even when I’m running up and down, I’m in good condition, I never had a problem with that. So I feel good. Or course, I want to be on the floor more, but it is what it is.
This story was originally published October 7, 2019 at 12:15 PM.
