Oladipo looks ‘definitely better’ than a year ago. And Barkley jumps aboard Heat bandwagon
A quick six-pack of Miami Heat notes as the team begins a six-game road trip on Monday in Boston:
▪ Heat players are encouraged with how Victor Oladipo has looked after last summer’s quad tendon surgery.
“I’ve seen enough to know he’s definitely better than he was last year,” forward Udonis Haslem said last week. “I haven’t seen any limping. I haven’t seen a lack of confidence. I haven’t seen everything so I can’t make a fair assessment. He looks pretty [good] about where he’s headed.”
Guard Gabe Vincent said: “Vic looks good, looks better and better each day. He was an All Star, hell of a player, still a hell of a player. We’re excited to get him back when he’s full go. He looks great so far.”
Oladipo - who’s on a one-year, $2.6 million contract - traveled with the team for this road trip but has not yet been deemed ready to play in games. A return at some point in February wouldn’t be surprising.
In accordance with team policy for injured players, Oladipo hasn’t spoken with reporters since September, when he was candid about his journey.
▪ TNT’s Charles Barkley, who has often been critical of the Heat in the past, said last week that “Miami’s got the best team in the East” and Tyler Herro should be on the All-Star team.
“Herro has been the best player in Miami all year,” Barkley said. “He’s the leading candidate for Sixth Man of the Year.”
▪ Former Heat player Justise Winslow, in his return with the Clippers over the weekend, suggested Bam Adebayo would be better suited to play power forward than center. That’s unrealistic as long as P.J. Tucker is here and playing this well.
“I feel like in an ideal basketball world, I see Bam more as a four [power forward] naturally being able to handle the ball and push it,” Winslow said. “He’s a playmaker. He’s a scoring four. Naturally, as the game is trending, he’s at the five [center] because he can guard those guys. But he’s a special talent. I just love when he’s aggressive. Love when he’s making plays and then facilitating for others.”
▪ More Heat feedback: One challenge with facing the Heat - a factor that opponents have continued to reference - is “their shooters are always moving,” guard Luke Kennard said. “It’s definitely hard to guard a team like that. They have some great shooters; they have some good playmakers.” …
Toronto coach Nick Nurse noted Saturday that the Heat “have so many guys over there that can bust five or six or seven threes on any given night. That breaks open a lot of games. [And] they are playing really fast.”...
Though his three-point shooting has declined, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau made the point that Jimmy Butler has improved every year:
“He can beat you off the pass, he can beat you off the dribble. He gets to the line. If he wanted to, he could score 30 points a night. He can guard all five positions. Those types of guys, they are winners.”
▪ Only Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokunmpo and James Harden are getting to the line more than Butler, who is averaging 8.0 free throw attempts per game, which was his average last season.
Only seven players - led by Steph Curry - shoot free throws at a higher clip than Butler’s 88.2.
But Butler’s 3-point shooting has dipped to 23 percent (14 for 61) - worst since his rookie season.
It remains a mystery why this 3-point accuracy has plunged so dramatically from Chicago (33.7) and Minnesota (35.5) and Philadelphia (33.8) to Miami (24.1) – while the rest of his game has flourished at an elite level.
▪ Former Heat center Meyers Leonard, who hasn’t played in the league since uttering an anti-Semitic slur (one that he said he didn’t know the meaning of), told The Chicago Tribune that he’s still hoping for another chance.
“As everybody in the room knows, there’s plenty of NBA teams who want me and that I could be playing for right now, but I’m just not healthy enough,” said Leonard, who has dealt with a significant ankle issue. “Did the incident help my case? No. But this time to heal? Yes.”
Leonard said that growing up in Robinson, a small southeastern Illinois town, “I wasn’t exposed to a lot of different culture, religion, etc. I just wasn’t. Does that make me a bad person? No. Did I make an ignorant mistake? Yes.
“To make it in this day and age, I think it’s slowing down a little, this cancel culture of sorts, but it was very hard. We’ll put it that way. I’ve been through some tough [expletive] in my life and just nothing compares.”
Leonard told the Tribune that he was “doing so badly that he sought professional help and began eye movement desensitization therapy” that is used to treat post-traumatic stress syndrome.
