The Miami Heat had a very successful Summer League stint where after losing their first game in the California Classic, they would win every single contest after, including the Summer League Final where they took home the title in Las Vegas. One of the many standouts from the team was the Miami's first round pick in Kel'el Ware who was at a Jr. Heat Basketball Camp at a SLAM! charter school on Thursday to talk about his experience.
Ware lived up to his status of why the team drafted him with the 15th overall pick as he was selected to the All-Summer League first team as he averaged 18 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 61.8 percent from the field during the final six games. The experience was heightened for the Indiana product as he mentioned it being a “great feeling” to be with his teammates according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“That was my first summer league,” Ware said. “So just being able to be part of that with the guys that I played with and to come out on top was definitely a great feeling.”
Ware gained “more confidence” with Heat in Summer League
There is no doubt that during the Summer League stint, fans got to see first hand why the Heat drafted him as besides his size at seven-foot, he is also very athletic providing a fast pace to go along with his rim presence. In his first month in the NBA, Ware said that it gave him “more confident in myself.”
“Just having more confidence in myself to go out there and play basketball the way I’ve always been playing and just going out there and competing,” Ware said.
Heat challenged Ware throughout Summer League
One of the many who have had the job in showcasing the many skills of Ware is Heat Summer League head coach Dan Bisaccio who also unlocked the abilities of such on the team as Keshad Johnson, Isaiah Stevens, Josh Christopher, and others. Specfically about Ware, he spoke about bringing the 20-year old many challenges and each one he embraced including some that involved in cleaning the glass.
“We challenge him daily and he loves the challenge to get as many rebounds as possible,” Bisaccio said about Ware. “We said you can’t get anything less than 10 [rebounds], we need you going after those, we need you cleaning the boards and we need you protecting the rim. That’s something that he’s really taken that challenge and he’s running with it. It’s just something that he’s embraced daily and we’re going to continue to challenge him. I told him we’re going to continue to challenge him until he retires from basketball.”
Ware's being labeled as a top rookie after impressive outings with Miami
Besides getting recognition from the NBA being on the All-Summer League first team, multiple media outlets has acknowledged Ware as a top rookie, including Kevin Pelton of ESPN who had the Arkansas-native as the best rookie in Summer League. Plus, John Hollinger of The Athletic praised Ware during the run where he was labeled as the best first-year big-man that played in Las Vegas.
“Ware still has some work to do on the defensive end, but if he’s going to be this productive on offense, he’s playable while he takes his lumps on D,” Hollinger wrote. “With Ware’s Vegas success, the Heat likely can go into next season more confident that he can fill the backup center minutes behind Bam Adebayo and develop further from there.”
As Ware gears and ramps up for training camp in September, the team themselves and even fans will envision how he can look on the team and where he would fit the best. He would obviously be a center, but where does that leave everybody else on the team, especially with a player like star Bam Adebayo?
Excitement for the pairing of Ware with Bam Adebayo
The duo of Adebayo and Ware has been a consistent talking point since the former has been the permanent center for the Heat since taking the job early in his NBA career. However, with Ware in the lineup, Adebayo would move back to his natural position at power forward where the two could be a dangerous front court, one that the Indiana product has mentioned time and time again, even Thursday saying the two “complement each other so well.”
“Me and Bam can definitely play beside each other because we complement each other so well,” Ware said via Chiang of The Miami Herald. “His position is really the four and so me coming in as the five man, I can protect the paint and just being able to do what I always do.”
Will success come right away in the NBA with Ware on Heat?
However, one has to wonder if he will see much opportunity once the NBA season rolls around as despite the impressive play in Summer League, that does not guarantee that level of performance within the main roster. There is no doubt that the talent and ceiling are high, literally and figuratively, but he will be competing with other big men on the Heat like Kevin Love and Thomas Bryant who were re-signed this offseason and have the experience.
If there is one thing Ware can tout about, it is that he got a ring in the first month he has been in the NBA, which a lot of rookies can not say they have achieved even if it's just for the Summer League. It also helps that he is rightly getting adjusted to the city of Miami being is “home.”
“For right now, Miami is home,” said Ware, who grew up in Arkansas. “So I’m here right now getting ready.”
At any rate, Ware will look to help the Heat improve after finishing at the eighth seed for the second straight season where they had a 46-36 record. They would eventually be eliminated by the eventual champions in the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA Playoffs in five games.
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