{"id":158290,"date":"2026-02-17T12:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/158290\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:10:09","slug":"is-it-time-erik-spoelstra-miami-heat-go-with-teams-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/158290\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it time Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat go with team’s youth?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q: Ira, this is what I want to see the rest of the season: as much Kel\u2019el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis and Pelle Larsson as possible. Let the kids play. \u2013 Lance.<\/p>\n

A: Agreed. But that doesn\u2019t mean they necessarily all have to start. You also need connectors, veterans and proven players who will afford them the type of rotations where there will be complementary players in place. That, in large part, was among the reasons the Heat retained Andrew Wiggins<\/a> at the deadline. So assuming a nine-man rotation, that means you should be able to carve time for Kel\u2019el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, Pelle Larsson, and I\u2019m throwing Jaime Jaquez Jr. in there, too, while also playing Bam Adebayo, Norman Powell, Davion Mitchell, Wiggins, and, if he fully makes it back, Tyler Herro. The irony is that among those who would be pushed back would be Nikola Jovic, who is about as young as any of the Heat\u2019s prospects. The most interesting aspect in regard to the veterans might be the approach going forward with Simone Fontecchio, who very much played as a connector prior to the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

Q: Got to be careful with extensions like that<\/a>. Norman Powell is solid and a nice scorer, but not a real needle mover. Without a true number-one guy, extending players like Powell is not a major concern, either way.\u00a0 If a reasonable number, fine. If not, no thanks. \u2013 Tom.<\/p>\n

A: I think you hit it on the head with your point about not having a true number one. Until you have the player you are building around, you don\u2019t know what you need to complement. So whether for Norman Powell or otherwise, it likely is smartest to keep the contracts and extensions small and manageable until you get that clear alpha. Bam Adebayo is not that. Tyler Herro hasn\u2019t been available often enough to be that. It is time to stop paying players as number ones or even number twos until a clear, defined hierarchy is established.<\/p>\n

Q: Ira, quiet about the tanking. With the Heat\u2019s schedule, why draw attention? \u2013 Fred.<\/p>\n

A: True, the Heat do have three remaining against Washington, two against Brooklyn, two against Milwaukee and one against Memphis. But then again, they\u2019ve already lost to the Jazz and Pacers, so nothing is a given. Still, in light of Adam Silver\u2019s actions befor the All-Star Game and the words during All-Star Weekend, it will be interesting to see what standards those teams feel forced to maintain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q: Ira, this is what I want to see the rest of the season: as much Kel\u2019el Ware,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17325,114,123,125,2490,16151,124,2295,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-158290","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-ask-ira","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-headlines","12":"tag-miami-heat","13":"tag-miami-heat-blog","14":"tag-miami-news","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}