Indirectly, Pat Riley may have taken a subtle shot at Erik Spoelstra when punctuating the need to play Kel'el Ware and Bam Adebayo on the floor together more. Speaking to Ware's talent, Riley noted that sometimes you have to play a young player through the growing pains.
In retrospect, it's something that Spo didn't necessarily have the fortitude to do throughout this past season. A big reason for Ware's fluctuation in minutes was Spo's lack of patience with the talented big man.
And it's no secret, either. Spo notoriously stated after a game, in not-so-few words, that it wasn't his job to gift minutes to a young player before he's earned them.
Clearly, Spo wasn't in the business of playing Ware just for the sake of playing him. And, it's something that Riley, at least philosophically, disagrees with.
Pat Riley believes Kel'el Ware needs to be on the floor with Bam Adebayo
“As far as Kel’el and Bam, Riley said. "I like it. You gotta be committed to it... Sometimes you gotta stay with it when young players are not performing at their highest.”
Of course, in fairness to Spo, that's a lot easier for Riley to say now. At the moment, I'm sure Spo was looking to do everything in his power to win games. After all, that's what he's paid for. That's his job description.
At the same time, Ware is still in the early stages of his development and would greatly benefit from fighting through those struggles. Something that Spo pivoted to a little more down the stretch.
Still, it's a shame that Ware and Bam didn't get more minutes together this season. After all, you kind of want the two most talented players on the roster to play together. It just didn't happen all that much this year in Miami.
The Bam-Ware experiment still has drawn no conclusions
And because of Spo's hesitation to push the Bam-Ware lineups this past season, there's still no confirmation one way or the other if this big man duo is going to work long-term.
Bam and Ware only appeared in 49 total games together in the regular season and averaged 10 minutes per contest on the floor together. That's just not enough of a sample size to gain any firm results.
Interestingly enough, the duo was a net positive when they shared the floor. Impressively, the Heat had an 8.2 net rating when Bam and Ware were in the lineup together. Again, the sample size was relatively small, but the initial results were certainly exciting.
And that's more than likely what Riley was speaking to in his press conference.
Many will view it as a shot at Spo, because Riley literally said the team needed to do the complete opposite of what Spo did, but I can't imagine it's that simple. Nothing is that elementary in the Association. There's nuance to it all, including the dynamics between Ware and Bam.
Nevertheless, it was interesting to see Riley speak glowingly about Ware, essentially calling for him to get more playing time heading into the future. It's something that Spo will assurdly take note of, for better or worse.
Add us as a preferred source on Google