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The newest player that will don a Miami Heat uniform will be Kel'el Ware who was selected with the 15th overall pick in the NBA Draft coming out of Indiana University. He spoke after his special moment to the local media where he talked about having having the faith of people within the Heat organization like president Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra.
Ware stands at seven-foot as he gives Miami much needed size that could potentially be paired with star Bam Adebayo as with his eye-opening athleticism, the pace of the team will not be sacrificed. This seems to be the vision of Riley and Spoelstra as Ware said to ClutchPoints that he is excited to be able to work with “huge figures” like them.
“Those are like huge figures,” Ware said. “And so just being able to just build those relationship with them. And even learn from them and, you know, just soak everything up, like a sponge and I feel like that'll help me not even just like as a basketball player, but just as a regular person, and just my personality and everything that comes with it.”
Asked Kel'el Ware about having faith from such people as #Heat‘s Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra and being able to learn from them:
“Those are huge figures. Just being able to build those relationship with them and even learn from them and, just soak everything up like a sponge…”
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) June 27, 2024
Already knows he’s learning from the best 💯 pic.twitter.com/goriPMAwFs
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) June 27, 2024
Ware talks about the pre-draft workout with the Heat
Ware was one of the many players that the Heat worked out during the NBA Draft process before Wednesday's first round where there is no doubt that the 20-year old impressed. Even the Indiana University product said that the one thing they wanted to show the team's front office and scouting department what he is “capable of doing.”
“I mean, I feel like it was good, especially at the workout,” Ware said about the workout with the Heat. “I got the hat on so they picked me, I tried to show them what I could do with the workout what I was capable of doing and I see that they liked it.”
Ware talks about hearing his name called during the NBA Draft
Besides the aforementioned school of Indiana, Ware also played for the University of Oregon in his first year where he played a total of two seasons. In his final season with the Hoosiers, he averaged 15.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, and a whopping 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 58.6 percent from the field.
“It was so many emotions just like just rushing through,” Ware said when asked how it felt to hear his named called and get picked by the Heat “Once my agent told me that that's where I was going, it's like all my memories from just growing up playing basketball started to just like rush through my head and to everything that I did and all the work that I put into finally hearing my name being caught. It was a surreal feeling. So, I'm thankful, I'm grateful and blessed.”
Ware is looking to make an immediate impact and join the list of productive middle of the first round draft picks by the Heat where others were Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, and recently with Jaime Jaquez Jr. out of UCLA. At any rate, he looks to help Miami bounce back after having a 46-36 record which put them at the eighth seed for the second straight season as they were eliminated in the first round of the NBA Playoffs by the Boston Celtics.
