Lessons were learned early from the Miami Heat\u2019s summer-league roster in Friday night\u2019s opener at the California Classic.<\/p>\n
It was a 88-87 victory in the 40-minute game over a similar group of draft picks, young players and free agents from the San Antonio Spurs at Chase Center in San Francisco. Heat second-round pick Ryan Conwell showed he\u2019s not shy. Returning guards Jahmir Young and Trevor Keels showed they might be worth another look, and center Vlad Goldin showed more of the 3-point stroke he developed last season.<\/p>\n
Working under assistant coach Wayne Ellington, who is guiding the summer roster, the Heat got 21 points from Conwell, 21 Young, 18 from Keels and 14 from Goldin,.<\/p>\n
Conwell, selected at No. 37 out of Louisville last week, shot just 4 of 12 from the field, but also 3 of 7 on 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just another notch,\u201d Conwell said of his first NBA-level competition, \u201cjust the speed of the game and just how quick you have to make your reads and different things like that. I\u2019m getting used to over time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Young, whose team option for next season was bypassed by the Heat last week, closed 8 of 13 from the field. He is a free agent, able to sign with any team.<\/p>\n
Keels, whose two-way contract was not renewed, was 2 of 5 on 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
Goldin, the former FAU Final Four center, added seven rebounds and three assists, also converting a third-period 3-pointer. All, Goldin said, while appreciating it is upgraded defense that could give him his best NBA chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiami, obviously they want to play tough. They want to be a team that can get a stop,\u201d he said, \u201cand that\u2019s something that I try to match.\u201d<\/p>\n
As it was, Ellington\u2019s first game as a head coach came down to a miss by the Spurs on their final possession.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fun. It\u2019s fun,\u201d said Ellington, a former Heat player. \u201cI had a great time. You know, my stress level, I\u2019m sure, is up a little bit right now with that ending. But I really enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five Degrees of Heat from Friday night\u2019s game:<\/p>\n
1. For starters: The Heat opened with a lineup of returning players Goldin, Young and Myron Gardner, as well as Conwell and Conwell\u2019s undrafted Louisville teammate J\u2019Vonne Hadley.<\/p>\n
Of those five, only Gardner and Conwell are under contract for next season, with Conwell having signed a three-year contract at the rookie minimum on Tuesday. Gardner has a $500,000 guarantee in place for his minimum-scale 2026-27 contract. Goldin has a qualifying offer in place for a two-way contract.<\/p>\n
Hadley spent one year in junior college, two at Colorado and two at Louisville.<\/p>\n
Keels, whose Heat two-way contract was not renewed at season\u2019s end, was first off the Heat bench, converting a 3-pointer on his first attempt.<\/p>\n
For Young, it was a matter of trying to lead by example.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these guys, it\u2019s their first summer league,\u201d he said. \u201cSo for me, just trying to make the game easy for them, just coming out, just playing with poise, playing with pace and just being a dog, just trying to compete on both ends.\u201d<\/p>\n
2. Uneven open: Conwell made his first attempt, a 3-pointer, but then missed his next six shots, closing the first half 1 of 7 from the field, including 1 of 4 on 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
Another 3-point attempt by Conwell was voided when he was called for an offensive foul when kicking out his leg in the third period.<\/p>\n
The book on Conwell proved true, not allowing a missed shot to prevent him from taking another.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t make as many shots as he would have liked to in the first half, but he kept shooting,\u201d Ellington said. \u201cHe found his rhythm. He found himself. That just speaks volumes on him.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. Short stint: Gardner was limited to 6:50, limping off early with what proved to be a sprained left ankle.<\/p>\n
He wound up going only 6:50, closing 1 of 3 from the field for two points, but also with four rebounds and two assists.<\/p>\n
4. Less is more: The game was the unveiling of the summer-league trial run of single free throws for all shooting fouls \u2014 counting for one, two or three points depending on the type of foul. The rule will be in place for all summer league games until the final two minutes of regulation and all of overtimes.<\/p>\n
Conwell was the Heat\u2019s first recipient of the change, shooting one free throw for three points when fouled on a 3-point attempt with 4:11 to play in the opening period, converting the foul shot. Conwell later converted a pair of two-point free throws, after a pair of third-period shooting fouls.<\/p>\n
5. Up next: The Heat get July 4 off before returning for a 4:30 p.m. game Sunday against the summer roster of the Los Angeles Lakers, also at Chase Center.<\/p>\n
The Heat then complete their three-game California Classic schedule at 10 p.m. Monday against the summer roster of the host Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n
From there, the Heat get a three-day break before opening their Las Vegas NBA Summer League schedule on July 10 against the Milwaukee Bucks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lessons were learned early from the Miami Heat\u2019s summer-league roster in Friday night\u2019s opener at the California Classic.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,3914,7223,590,85],"class_list":["post-778075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami-heat","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}