A person requested information about Miami Heat Rookie Kel’el Ware’s chances of playing ahead of Kevin Love in the rotation are low, and Ira Winderman seems to think head coach Erik Spoelstra will roll with the more experienced Love as the team’s backup big man to begin the 2024-25 NBA season.
“But Kel’el Ware is also coming into a win-now situation, especially early in the season,” Winderman said. wrote“The Heat basically spent last season trying to recover from their uneven start. So I think Erik Spoelstra would have chosen to play his best rotation, the one that’s winning now, from the start. And Kevin Love didn’t come back to play a big role. He re-signed to play. When he wasn’t playing in Cleveland, he asked for a buyout. I doubt his attitude has changed in the meantime.
“Tyler Herro was the 13th overall pick and played all but eight of his rookie games as a backup. Bam Adebayo was the 14th overall pick and played all but 19 of his rookie games as a backup. Yes, being a starter and being a rotational backup are two different things. But it seems like the best way for Kel’el Ware to be a rotational backup would be to show that he can play alongside Bam. When that becomes an option, then anything and everything becomes possible.”
Ware was selected with the first overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, and he’s not far off an impressive two-way performance at the Las Vegas Summer League. He’s averaging 18.0 points on 61.8 percent shooting, along with 8.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in six games.
Additionally, as far as Ware’s fit alongside Adebayo in the frontcourt, the youngster at least seems to believe he has the skills to complement the three-time NBA All-Star.
“Bam and I can play side by side because we complement each other really well,” Ware said. “His position is really the four, and so coming in as a five-man, I can protect the paint and do what I always do.”
Ware’s shot-blocking and scoring skills inside could prove valuable to a Heat team that isn’t exactly loaded with productive presences in the paint.
But one can understand why Winderman thinks Spoelstra will play Love over Ware — at least to start the 2024-25 regular season — by looking at the latter’s NBA experience.
Love spent 16 seasons in the NBA and played several different positions during that time. Earlier in his career, he got a taste of what it’s like to be a franchise player, playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves for a considerable period of time.
Later in his career, Love was able to enjoy much more team success. He played alongside LeBron James and Kyrie Irving on the The Cleveland Cavaliers for three seasons, and during that time the team won a title in 2016 and reached three championship series.
Most recently, he played a significant role in Miami’s rotation during the 2023-24 regular season. He played in 55 games (including five starts) in his second season with the Heat and averaged 8.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.
