The Miami Heat are facing a number of issues ahead of the upcoming NBA season. One of them, thankfully, has a pretty obvious solution.
While the Heat are collectively getting clobbered on the glass—47.6 rebounding percentage, 25th overall, per NBA.com—they just so happen to have the preseason's best rebounder in second-year center Kel'el Ware, who's grabbed 11 per game so far. While there are other reasons to get excited about his play, it's his activity on the boards that could make head coach Erik Spoelstra rethink the makeup of his starting frontcourt.
There's an argument to make for keeping Ware with the second unit, but Miami's glaring need for glass help and his obvious ability to supply it might make an even louder cause for promoting him back to the opening group.
The Heat need rebounding help, and Ware is providing that at an elite level.
While Miami is ostensibly built around All-Star big man Bam Adebayo, this hasn't been a good rebounding team in a while. The Heat last had an upper-half rebounding percentage back in 2021-22.
For all of the boxes Adebayo checks as a modern big, elite rebounding isn't one of them. In fact, he's had a single-digit average in the category during three of the last five seasons.
That's not exactly a huge strength of popular breakout pick Nikola Jovic, either. The 6'10" forward has plenty of ball skills and intriguing offensive abilities, but he averaged 3.9 rebounds last season and peaked at 4.2 the year prior.
If the Heat wants to turn this weakness into a potential strength, then they need to lean on Ware. Heavily. During his 36 starts as a rookie, he snagged an even 10 boards per outing. And he did that while only logging 28.4 minutes in those contests.
Board walk may not be the most talked about part of his game—his unicorn blend of shot-blocking and floor-spacing holds that distinction—but it absolutely matters. Rebounds extend offensive possessions or punctuate defensive stops. With Miami once again looking like it could be hurting for shooting and leaning on its defense to win games, both of those assets could be invaluable.
The Heat need a big leap year from Ware. Not to justify their decision to keep him out of Kevin Durant trade talks. And, no, not to cover up their glaring superstar void (though that would be obviously hugely helpful if it happened).
No, they need the best version of Ware, because that's a player who could be incredibly special—and help them exactly where they might need it most.