Q&A: Kel'el Ware on what he's already picked up from Heat Culture

It’s been a whirlwind summer for Kel’el Ware, the Miami Heat’s 15th overall pick in June’s draft. Workouts, meetings, draft night, moving to Miami, a summer league championship in Las Vegas, more workouts, more meetings, and now training camp in the Bahamas with his new team. It be a lot for a 20-year-old to take in.

At Heat media day on Monday, I got to sit down with Ware and reflect on a life-changing summer. 

Besides talking about watching “The Sopranos” for the first time (“I’m locked in”), playing as himself on NBA2K and which teammates he’d choose to go on a road trip with (Pelle Larsson and Keshad Johnson, in case you were wondering), we also discussed what he learned during his short time around the Heat and what fans can expect from him on opening night.

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity. You can listen to the full interview here.

I want to just go straight to the moment that you guys won the summer league championship. What's that feeling like, and how does that get you excited for playing some real NBA games here? 

Oh, man. It felt great just to be able to say that you won the summer league and having that title. 

So when you're going through the whole draft process, you're going through workouts, you're doing interviews with general managers, front offices, you're traveling a lot. Is there a moment where you're like, wow, this is overwhelming?

Well, I had 16 workouts. Of course, you embrace the moment, but it also played a big role on your body, you know, fatigue-wise. But you just fight through it.

Were you able to get any time off to kind of recuperate and relax? 

Yeah. Yeah. 

How long have you been here working out now? 

Ever since summer league ended. 

Really? 

I took, like, a week off. And then that's when I got right back to work. 

What are the things that you're trying to do as basically the lone 7 footer on this roster on Day 1?

Rebound and defend. I mean, that's something that I was gifted with. And so just being able to rebound, defend, run the court, you know, set pick-and-rolls. I mean, I'm gonna get open off just send picks and running the floor. 

How much of that did you learn in summer league from the coaching staff there?

That's what they told me they want to see. Rim runs. They want to see me rebounding the ball, me blocking shots, and so that's what I feel like I was doing. 

Who are you most excited to learn from and spend some time with in the Bahamas?

Definitely Bam. Just to see how he thinks. But I mean, really, anybody. I'm talking to anybody trying to see what they got to tell me and stuff like that. 

Have you gotten a chance to really talk to somebody and break down your game?

Yeah, I’ve been talking to [Heat assistant coach] Malik [Allen]. We watch film whenever we play, like, 5 on 5 in here or 3 on 3. Just watching it to see what I could work on, what I could do. 

What's something that you would like Heat fans to know about you? Maybe something that they hadn't gotten a chance to see in summer league in terms of your game?

On the court, I feel like I have more to offer offensively. I don't know if they’re gonna see that in my rookie season, but, yeah, they'll see it.