The Miami Heat are fully committed to Kel'el Ware—full stop. He might not hold centerpiece status just yet, but he's clearly been made a primary building block. They went all-in on the younger center during last season's second half, tasking him with their fifth-most minutes and shots after the All-Star break. Then, they doubled down on that wager by notably making him off-limits in their Kevin Durant pursuit.
Maybe that's why coach Erik Spoelstra recently spoke with so much passion and urgency when addressing Ware's slow start to summer league. While the coach made sure to note they're believers in Ware's talent, adding checklist items like improving "his professionalism" and "his consistency" raised red flags for their familiarity and their potential to prevent Ware from maxing out his ability.
These concerns with Ware have been raised before.
As much as you might want to praise Ware for responding to Spoelstra's challenge with a huge 21-point, nine-rebound, three-block performance, that is, essentially, what Ware was supposed to be doing all along.
Remember, when summer league coach Eric Glass told reporters his hopes for Ware, the plan was for the big fella "to put everybody on notice that he's here and he's for real in this league." So, sure, the big showing in response to the callout was encouraging, but the Heat needs to see a lot more.
Besides, the response wasn't the most notable part of that interaction. The initial callout felt far more critical and revealing. That Spoelstra deemed it necessary in the middle of July to publicly pick apart a 21-year-old's commitment to his craft showed how serious the franchise thinks this subject is.
That's probably because the same issues Spo was calling out were routinely laid out among the weaknesses and concerns sections of Ware's predraft scouting reports.
The Athletic's Sam Vecenie, who goes as deep on the draft as anyone, slotted Ware 26th on his 2024 prospect ranking while citing "his engagement and motor" as ongoing worries and offering up this grim take: "I buy his talent, but I worry that he ends up in the Christian Wood zone—an incredibly talented player who doesn't consistently help NBA teams win games."
Too often in college, Ware would struggle to get his motor revved or fail to find the necessary physicality. He'd still sometimes dominate based on his tools and talent, but you didn't always feel his impact or love his level of involvement.
The Heat surely heard all of those criticisms with Ware. The fact that they felt they already needed addressing suggests they perhaps shared those worries, too.
It might be a good thing, then, for Spoelstra to get out ahead of this the way he did. This was, perhaps, a stern reminder that for all of the heads Ware turned last season, he really accomplished nothing. The Heat have much higher hopes than a solid second half and an All-Rookie second-team selection.
They also know Ware has all of the ability to achieve these lofty goals, but only if he seriously improves his focus, ups his effort and understands that results are only realized through daily grinds. The Heat are doing what they can to push him that direction, but just as scouts have known for a while, this is ultimately up to Ware whether he's going to consistently give it his all or not.