Heat using the tough love approach with Kel’el Ware: ‘At one point, he’ll for sure understand’
At times this preseason, Miami Heat center Kel’el Ware might have felt like a man on an island. After all, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra again publicly challenged Ware to be better this preseason just a few months after calling for him to “improve his professionalism, his consistency, his approach every single day” following his underwhelming start to summer league in July.
But Ware, 21, is not alone. In fact, there are a few players on the Heat’s roster who have been in Ware’s position before.
Just ask Heat forward Nikola Jovic, who opened last season as a starter before completely falling out of Miami’s rotation a few weeks into the season and then having to regain the coaching staff’s trust to again earn playing time.
“It’s hard because how Spo is now with Kel’el, he was a similar way to me,” said Jovic, who is now a front-runner to begin this season as a starter. “I think he actually trusts and believes in Kel’el a lot more with the potential he has. It would be stupid to not use it. It’s obvious how good he can be, and they really want to make sure that he’s the best that he can be.”
Jovic, 22, then paused, seemingly remembering what it felt like to be in that position last season before thriving in a sixth man role later in the year.
“The problem is that even now when that happened to me, you feel like they’re against you, and they’re not trying to help you,” Jovic said ahead of the Heat’s preseason finale on Friday night against the Memphis Grizzlies at Kaseya Center. “You feel like they’re making sure that they notice everything you do wrong, and then you kind of get mad, and you get into your feelings. I feel like that’s normal. But you just got to understand as soon as possible that they actually want you to be the best version of yourself. And for him, I feel like he understands it. He’s kind of still taking things slowly because he’s 21. So, he’ll be good.”
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Ware’s response to Spoelstra’s preseason challenge has been encouraging, as he entered the Heat’s preseason finale on Friday averaging 17.4 points, 11 rebounds and one steal per game while shooting 51.5% from the field and 8 of 18 (44.4%) from three-point range during Miami first five exhibitions. Ware also entered Friday averaging a league-high 11 rebounds per game this preseason and as the only player in the NBA averaging a double-double this preseason among those who have played in more than one exhibition.
It’s only the preseason, but this matters after Spoelstra called out Ware following the Heat’s second exhibition game. Ware posted a standout stat line of 18 points and 13 rebounds in 23 minutes during that Oct. 6 preseason loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, but Spoelstra pointed to his rough plus/minus of minus-21 after that contest.
“I’m not looking at the stat line,” Spoelstra said after that preseason game. “I think everybody is looking at the wrong thing. It’s got to impact the game. I want him the next game to be a plus-20. That’s what it’s about.”
Like Jovic, Heat center Precious Achiuwa understands what Ware is dealing with because Achiuwa was in a similar position five years ago.
Achiuwa was selected by the Heat with the 20th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, but the big man only spent his rookie season in Miami before being dealt to the Toronto Raptors as part of the trade that brought Kyle Lowry to the Heat during the 2021 offseason. During that short one-year stint with the Heat, Achiuwa began his rookie season as a consistent part of the rotation before losing playing time and dropping out of the rotation later in the year.
“I’ve definitely kind of talked to Kel’el about some things,” said Achiuwa, who returned to the Heat on a nonguaranteed one-year deal this past offseason. “I try to talk to him and just let him know he’s just got to keep the course. I think he’s going to be really good. He’s just got to obviously stay consistent, continue to do what he’s doing. He’ll be just fine. He’s still learning the game. Year 2, I think he shouldn’t put a lot of pressure on himself.
“For me, just getting around, seeing things, you learn. The more basketball you play, you see things, you figure things out, and he’ll be fine. He’ll be really good. He’s going to be really, really good.”
Ware views Spoelstra’s public challenges as motivation.
“I always take anything that the coach says to me as motivation,” said Ware, who earned a spot on the NBA All-Rookie Second Team last season after being taken by the Heat with the 15th overall pick in last year’s draft. “I take it and I try to impact it into my game, and I try to play as hard as I can.”
But Heat captain and three-time All-Star center Bam Adebayo doesn’t want Ware to have to rely on Spoelstra’s words to play better.
“I feel like it’s got to stop being motivation, and it’s got to start being more discipline,” Adebayo said. “When you’re motivated, you can go out there. We know that. But discipline is when it’s like even though I have no motivation, I still go out there and do my job. It doesn’t have to be 29 points and 12 rebounds. It can be 10, 10, and seven blocks.
“He can affect the game in many different ways, and we know that. So that’s why Spo is so tough on him because he wants him to realize that we know you can score, but we want you to do all the things that bring out your full potential.”
Adebayo is tough on Ware, too. But Adebayo can also sympathize with Ware because he was once in his position as a young big man trying to earn Spoelstra’s trust and consistent playing time.
“He sees why I’m tough on him,” Adebayo, 28, said. “But then also, I give him grace and understand what you’re going through. Sometimes he can go down that hole where he starts getting on himself and it starts weighing on him. That’s my job to pick him up.”
Ware’s potential is tantalizing as an athletic 7-footer with a 7-foot-5 wingspan who also has the ability to knock down threes. The Heat knows Ware can be really good, and that’s why Spoelstra, Adebayo and others are so hard on him.
“We got a standard for him,” Adebayo said. “It’s not about the last number [points] on the stat sheet. We want him to affect the game in so many different ways besides scoring. Because to me, just being a scorer really limits you in his trajectory. It limits him. He can affect the game having 10, 10, and 7, and then feel like he got 30. We just want that motor on a consistent basis.”
Whether Ware being this season as a starter or reserve, those expectations remain the same for him.
“It’s hard to understand,” Jovic said of the tough love that Ware is dealing with. “But at one point, he’ll for sure understand.”
