A Miami Heat star offers seasoned wisdom as a young center navigates harsh criticism and a challenging sophomore season. Discipline, not just motivation, is key.
As the Miami Heat search for ways to get their season back to its original trajectory, there's an obvious dispute between Erik Spoelstra and Kel'el Ware. In Thursday night's loss against the Boston Celtics, the second-year center didn't play in the second half, finishing with three points and five rebounds in nine minutes.
Spoelstra mentioned Ware is "stepping in the wrong direction" and accused him of self-sabotage, performing poorly until he gets his way. The 21-year-old has been under a short leash since preseason, showing sparks of his full capabilities in stretches, but the consistency has been the issue.
Heat's captain Bam Adebayo gave his two cents on the situation.
"Keep your head up," he told media postgame on Thursday. "You're young. Obviously, you're ambitious, you want to play. My thing is, don't let stuff like this be the motivation. You should like discipline every day, it's what beats motivation. You can be motivated for two, three games and then go up and down. Discipline makes you consistent."
Ware is a special player, a seven-footer who can protect the rim, block shots, rebound, and shoot on all three levels of the court.
From Nov. 11th to Dec. 3rd, the former first-round pick had an excellent stretch, averaging 14.2 points, 12.6 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, and a steal while shooting 55.6 percent from the field, 55 percent from three-point range in nine games.
Given his role on the team, especially with All-Star guard Tyler Herro finding himself within the new offensive system, the final stats don't have to be as big, but the impact certainly does.
However, it's difficult to pinpoint what's happening behind the scenes that leaves Spoelstra taking aggressive tactics with Ware. This level of hardship wasn't present during his rookie season, especially after being a consistent starter alongside Adebayo shortly before the All-Star break.
Nikola Jovic experienced his fair share of growing pains throughout the early portions of his career, but nothing to a similar extent.
This situation needs to be resolved soon rather than later, as the regular season has officially reached the mid-point, and All-Star weekend is less than a month away. If the Heat wishes to climb back up in the Eastern Conference standings, this disconnection between Spoelstra and Ware cannot linger.
The team will host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night before facing a five-game Western Conference road trip. They lost to the reigning champions on Sunday night, Jan. 11th, with a final score of 124-112. A bounce back is necessary, but so is a resolution from within.
Join the Community! Don't miss out on our ROUNDTABLE community and the latest news! It's completely free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our RoundTable writers, and chat with fellow members.
Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected!
More Miami Heat News: