MIAMI – As Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has laid out goals for Kel'el Ware, who is heading into his sophomore season after an impressive rookie year, there's no doubt that this preseason will be vital for his development. While the young up-and-coming Heat star dominated in Wednesday's 112-107 preseason loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Ware seems to have taken Spoelstra's challenges to heart.

In Monday's 103-93 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, Ware would have 18 points and 13 rebounds, but also sported a -21 on the floor, having questionable moments on both sides of the ball. It led to Spoelstra saying after the game that he looks beyond the stat line, saying he emphasizes game-winning plays, though he mentioned before Wednesday's game to ClutchPoints that there was a three-to-four-minute stretch that impressed him.

“I’m not looking at the stat line,” Spoelstra said after Monday’s outing. “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.”

Ware took Spoelstra's challenge and used it as fuel to have a dominating game on Wednesday, scoring a game-high 29 points on 12 of 19 shooting from the field, three of six from deep, to go along with 12 rebounds and a block. He would say after Wednesday's loss to San Antonio that he takes what his head coach tells him as “motivation.”

“I always take anything that Spo says as motivation, I take it and I try to impact it into my game, and I try to play as hard as I can, I was still getting my legs back in front of me from training camp,” Ware said.

Heat's Erik Spoelstra cites the “progress” that Kel'el Ware is making

Miami Heat center Kel'el Ware (7) looks on during the second quarter against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.
Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

With the question of Ware starting for the Heat this upcoming year, he did so in the second half of last season, headlining an exciting frontcourt with Bam Adebayo. However, Ware has yet to start in the preseason, with Spoelstra instead putting Nikola Jovic with Adebayo as the Indiana product continues to develop.

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For Spoelstra, the game on Wednesday showed Ware putting “a lot of it together,” highlighting his performance that was filled with “force,” citing it as “progress.”

“Of course, Kel’el, he put a lot of it together tonight,” Spoelstra said. “His pick-and-roll coverages were really good. He was protecting the basket, was closing out when he needed to, rebounded the ball very well, and he was playing with force…And he also made some plays where he got in the paint and spread it out. So that's definitely progress.”

An eye-opening trend on Wednesday was the connection with rookie point guard Kasparas Jakucionis, with Spoelstra explaining why they're both a “natural connection.”

“They've played together some, but I think it's more a product of Kel’el’s great hands; he’s a vertical threat. Kas [Jakucionis] sees it,” Spoelstra said. “He can deliver it, but he also can deliver the pocket pass, kind of set you up, and let the big do the rest of the work. That's a good quality, if you have kind of a synergy between a couple of guys, I think that's definitely a good thing.”

Ware will continue to answer Spoelstra's challengers throughout the preseason with the next game on Sunday against the Orlando Magic.