KZ Okpala makes a statement, and other takeaways from Miami Heat’s preseason finale
Friday’s preseason finale was not the Miami Heat’s “dress rehearsal” for the regular season, but it did represent a chance for rotation hopefuls to prove they deserve playing time when the real games start.
Second-year forward KZ Okpala took advantage by turning in the best performance of his young NBA career in the Heat’s 117-105 win over the Toronto Raptors at Amalie Arena to close its quick two-game preseason schedule. Miami finished the preseason with a 1-1 record.
Okpala finished the preseason finale with 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 6-of-10 shooting on threes, five rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal in 34 minutes.
Heat rookie Precious Achiuwa also flashed his potential Friday, with 13 points and 15 rebounds in 23 minutes.
The Toronto Raptors were led by veteran guard Kyle Lowry, who scored 25 points in 27 minutes.
Next up for the Heat is a few practice days before opening the regular season on Wednesday against the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center. Miami then returns to AmericanAirlines Arena for its home opener Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans on Christmas Day.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s preseason win over the Raptors:
Jimmy Butler, Avery Bradley and Kendrick Nunn didn’t play Friday. But the expectation is they’ll all be ready for Wednesday’s regular-season opener.
Butler (rest/recovery), Bradley (hamstring strain) and Nunn (right groin strain) did not make the trip to Tampa for the preseason finale.
With Butler, he was held out of both the Heat’s preseason games. He also missed Monday’s preseason opener against the Pelicans, with coach Erik Spoelstra prioritizing team practices over preseason games this year.
The Heat wants to have a rested Butler, 31, for the start of the regular season after the abbreviated two-month offseason. He averaged 43 minutes of playing time in the NBA Finals, which ended on Oct. 11.
“I definitely would not classify that as off,” Spoelstra said of Butler missing both preseason games. “Not the way our last two practices have gone. Look, I’ve just prioritized that. That’s what I’ve done in this case. The most important thing was our practice time in our walls to be able to drill and go five-on-five and scrimmage. I wanted to do that in the most intelligent way to be able to prepare the guys for Orlando.”
As for Bradley and Nunn, their injuries appear to be minor and they were held out as a precaution.
“I think the trainers and everybody feel confident that these guys will be ready not only for Orlando, but practice time before that,” Spoelstra said. “That’s why I want to be proactive with this. Keep them at home and have them just really spend time with [assistant athletic trainer Armando Rivas] just getting their bodies right. I think we should be good from that regard.”
But whether two-way contract guard Gabe Vincent will be ready for the start of the regular season is questionable. Vincent, who is still recovering from an offseason scope on his right knee, also did not travel to Tampa for Friday’s preseason contest.
“He’s going to be darn close,” Spoelstra said when asked about Vincent’s availability for the regular-season opener. “He has been doing just about everything in practice and pre-practice and post-practice with just a little bit of contact. He may get cleared to do full contact next week. So he’s really close. I’m really pleased with the progress that he has made. I know he has been putting in a lot of time. We’ll just cross our fingers.”
Vincent is signed to one of Miami’s two-way contracts, with the other two-way slot still open.
Rather than being limited to spending up to 45 days with their NBA teams, two-way players will be eligible to be active for up to 50 of their team’s 72 NBA games during this season amid the roster uncertainty stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Okpala didn’t get much NBA playing time as a rookie. But judging by Okpala’s performance in the preseason finale, the Heat probably wants to find more minutes for him in his second NBA season.
The 21-year-old Okpala started on Friday and was assertive early, scoring 11 of the Heat’s first 16 points. He shot 3 of 5 on threes in the opening period.
By halftime, Okpala had 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting on threes in 17 first-half minutes.
“As you can see, the kid can play,” Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo said of Okpala. “It’s all about his confidence. He has got to get out of his own self. I felt like first game of the preseason he was a little nervous. But second game under his belt, he can build on what he did tonight and keep building his confidence from that.”
The 24 points and six made threes are nice, but it’s Okpala’s defensive versatility that really makes him an intriguing player. He started Friday’s preseason game on Raptors All-Star forward Pascal Siakam.
Okpala (6-8, 215) flashed his potential on that end of the court right away, when he switched onto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet (6-1, 197) and forced him into a turnover on a drive to the basket early in the first quarter.
“The only thing people will probably notice is the six threes and 24 points,” Spoelstra said of Okpala’s standout stat line. “But it was the versatility defensively, being in the right spots on the weak side. That’s probably where he has made the most improvement because coming in he was always pretty good on the ball. But trying to learn more NBA actions and plays and where to be when he’s not in the action.”
The question is: Is there a consistent spot for Okpala in the Heat’s rotation? If Okpala is what he showed Friday, the answer is undoubtedly yes.
The loss of forwards Jae Crowder and Derrick Jones Jr. in free agency opens the door for Okpala to fill a need as a versatile forward who has the athleticism, foot speed and size to switch onto multiple positions. Even a starting spot is possible for Okpala if Spoelstra opts to begin games with a smaller lineup.
Okapala’s main competition for that role is free agent acquisition Moe Harkless (6-7, 220 pounds) and veteran Andre Iguodala (6-6, 215), who both bring more experience to the court. Achiuwa, who was the Heat’s first-round pick this year, could also fill that role with his combination of size (6-9, 225) and athleticism.
Or the Heat can just rely on bigger lineups, with its trio of centers: Adebayo, Meyers Leonard and Kelly Olynyk. Adebayo finished Friday’s preseason win with 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 25 minutes.
But it seems safe to assume that Okpala will get more playing time this season than he did as a rookie. He logged a total of just 26 minutes of NBA court time in five games last season.
“I believe in myself and success is the only option for me,” Okpala said. “So I’m going to keep working. Hooping is my passion. I wouldn’t say there was a moment where it clicked, but I knew that I needed to give my all to these coaches and just listen to what they say because they believe in me and I believe in them.”
Wing Max Strus has impressed Heat coaches and teammates during training camp and the preseason. But has he impressed enough to earn a regular-season roster spot?
That remains to be seen, but Strus certainly closed the preseason on a high note. Strus, 24, finished Friday’s preseason finale with 22 points while shooting 8-of-11 from the field and 6-of-8 shooting on threes in 22 minutes.
Strus, who signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Miami on Nov. 30, is vying for for the Heat’s open two-way contract spot.
“You can see he’s ignitable when he hits two or three [threes], much like a few of our guys that can keep on going to four, five and six,” Spoelstra said of Strus. “But he’s not just a shooter. He has also made some pretty good strides in this training camp defensively and can move his feet.”
With guard Breein Tyree and forward Paul Eboua waived Wednesday, the competition for the Heat’s final two-way deal is down to its two remaining Exhibit 10 players: wings BJ Johnson and Strus. The Heat can also opt to fill the two-way spot with an outside player.
Johnson finished the preseason finale with three points on 1-of-3 shooting and two assists in eight minutes.
Strus will know his fate soon enough, with Miami currently carrying 18 players on its roster. The Heat must make at least one roster move to get to the regular-season maximum of 17 players (15 signed to standard contracts and two signed to two-way contracts) by Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
After being held out of Monday’s preseason opener, Heat veterans Goran Dragic, Iguodala and Olynyk played their first minutes of the preseason Friday.
Dragic made the most of his limited playing time, finishing with six points and eight assists in 19 minutes. It marked Dragic’s first game action since recovering from a torn plantar fascia in his left foot that he suffered in Game 1 of the NBA Finals last season.
“It feels good. No problem with the foot,” Dragic said after the preseason finale. “I don’t feel nothing. No pain, no stiffness. Conditioning wise, that was different than practice definitely. But I’m happy with how it turned out, how I played and it’s only going to get better.”
Iguodala recorded two points, two rebounds and three assists in 16 minutes.
Olynyk was solid in his preseason debut with 13 points, seven rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes.
Udonis Haslem and Leonard were the only two Heat players in uniform who did not play Friday.
Friday’s preseason game represented the Raptors’ first Tampa home game. The Heat was impressed by the setup and thankful for the quick flight.
The Raptors have been temporarily relocated to Tampa because of COVID-19-related travel restrictions in Canada, and are beginning the season by playing home games at Amalie Arena. That’s not usually an NBA arena, but it is home to the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning.
To bring a piece of Toronto to Tampa, the Raptors hung their 2019 NBA championship banner in the Amalie Arena rafters. And the court features the Raptors’ logos and colors.
“I just think this is amazing,” Spoelstra said of the Raptors quickly making Tampa their temporary home. “It really is impressive how quickly they turned it around. It looks like an NBA building. ... All of this happening in the last several weeks just shows you the power of sport and what you can get accomplished to really continue our season. It’s a unique situation. It’s good for us. Our trip was really short last night and we were in our hotel after our practice at an absolutely reasonable time.”
Instead of traveling to Toronto, the Heat will make one trip to Tampa to play both of its regular-season road games against the Raptors on Jan. 20 and 22.
This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 9:27 PM.
