MIAMI – Erik Spoelstra is about nothing if not about silver linings.
So amid a mix-and-match approach through this injury-marred first half of the Miami Heat season, Spoelstra has found two more:
– The players who have had to sit due to injuries have reduced wear.
– And the need to think on the fly has kept him on his coaching toes.
So, yes, it’s about more than Jimmy Butler’s troublesome toe and the other ailments that have had the Heat playing only eight games entering Sunday’s matchup against the Charlotte Hornets at Kaseya Center with all three of their core trio of Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
“The majority of the guys are fresh, because we’re had a lot of moving parts, guys in and out of the lineups,” Spoelstra said, with that freshness to be tested by the back-to-back set that concludes Monday night against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center.
“So guys have had their time off when they’ve been out, so they want to play.”
Spoelstra particularly noted that with forward Caleb Martin, who had missed seven consecutive games with a sprained right ankle before returning in Friday night’s victory over the Orlando Magic.
“Guys like Caleb, he wants to gobble up any minute of this type of environment that he can right now,” Spoelstra said. “And the underlying benefit of all this, without anybody having to talk about it, nobody’s taking any of this for granted.
“When you’re out and you want to play, you’re incredibly grateful to do what we get to do and compete at a high level. I mean, we’re also not where we want to be right now.”
Then there is the wheel of lineups that Spoelstra has had to spin, constantly reconfiguring his rotations based on last-minute updates of who is and who is not available.
“And I think that’s invigorating, also, for a coach, that when I do my rotation and prep for a game, it’s brand new, every game,” Spoelstra said. “And that’s keeping me young and keeping me really invigorated.
“It actually does keep you sharp. You can’t skip any steps. You definitely can’t check boxes and mail it in. There’s a different type of prep this year.”
Among the benefits of the injury absences has been increased opportunity for 2022 first-round pick Nikola Jovic, the 6-foot-10 forward out of Serbia.
“He’s a great passer. He’s got great size. He’s going to make the right play most of the time,” forward Haywood Highsmith said, with an appreciation throughout the locker room for the 20-year-old’s playmaking. “He’s getting better each game, with reads, attacking, he’s a great passer.”
With better weather in Sioux Falls, Heat two-way player Cole Swider would have been back in Miami. Instead, forced to remain in South Dakota due to a storm, the forward remained with the G League Skyforce on Saturday night and went for 22 points in a victory over the San Antonio Spurs’ affiliate, converting three 3-pointers and adding 10 rebounds.
It was the second game of a two-game stint with the Skyforce for Swider, who also had 22 points in a Friday night victory over the same Austin Spurs.
Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said at Friday night’s game that he felt he arrived a week too early, with the Heat to retire Udonis Haslem’s No. 40 this coming Friday at the game against the visiting Atlanta Hawks.
“I was like, ‘Gosh, I wish I could be here for that.’ Because it’s something special,” Mosley said, “and what he has meant to this organization and this group of people, the way he’s brought a toughness to the team and it represented everything they are, and that’s who he is.”
