Inside The Heat

Former Miami Heat coach likes the team's direction

Stan Van Gundy sees a lot of positives in Kel'el Ware, Miami Heat as a whole
Ethan J. Skolnick|
Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

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Miami Heat

It's been two decades, believe it or not, since Stan Van Gundy has been the head coach of the Miami Heat.

Once Pat Riley's top assistant, Van Gundy took over for Riley in 2003-04, and after losing his first seven games, led a young squad including Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and some rookie named Dwyane Wade to the second round of the playoffs, where the Heat lost in six games in the second round to the Indiana Pacers. Van Gundy took the Heat to a top seed the next season before they lost in the Eastern Conference Finals' seventh game to Detroit. Then he ceded the chair back to Pat Riley, for a variety of personal and basketball reasons, in 2005-06, and Riley coached the Heat to their first championship.

Van Gundy later coached Orlando, Detroit and New Orleans, but now he's an analyst, and on while on The Zach Lowe Show, he expressed plenty of optimism for his original NBA team.

Many Heat fans have bee concerned with how Tyler Herro would fit in the team's new screen-light offense, but Van Gundy is not. Especially after Herro scored 24 points effiiciently in his second debut on Monday. "I think the new style fits him fine," Van Gundy said.

Van Gundy also has been impressed with the recent surge from second-year center Kel'el Ware. Ware has put together his most consistent efforts of his career, with the emphasis on effort. He's been everywhere, proving he can play with motor and force. Van Gundy coached Malik Allen, one of the Heat's assistants, in Miami, and is among those who praises Allen for the work with Ware.

"The last seven, eight games, (Ware) has been as dominant as any big in the league," Van Gundy said. "This is a legitimate leap happening right before our eyes."

For that and other reasons, one current quandary is whether Erik Spoelstra (once Van Gundy's top assistant and a long-time friend) keeps Ware in the starting lineup next to Bam Adebayo. Someone needs to come out of the starting group, with Norm Powell expected back to play with Herro for the first time. It won't be Adebayo. So that's three. Andrew Wiggins may be back against the Bucks on Wednesday also, after he's missed time with a hip flexor. So that's four. That leaves Pelle Larsson likely out, but still a debate between big (Ware) and small (Davion Mitchell, who has been exceptional as well).

Lowe has posed the question on other podcasts.

Van Gundy isn't too worried about this either, even as he acknowledges that going too small could create some offense, defense adjustments.

"Spo will figure it out," Van Gundy believes.

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Ethan J. Skolnick
ETHAN J. SKOLNICK

Ethan has covered all major sports -- in South Florida and beyond -- since 1996 and is one of the longest-tenured fully credentialed members of the Miami Heat. He has covered, in total, more than 30 NBA Finals, Super Bowls, World Series and Stanley Cup Finals. After working full-time for the Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Bleacher Report and several other outlets, he founded the Five Reasons Sports Network in 2019 and began hosting the Five on the Floor podcast as part of that network. The podcast is regularly among the most downloaded one-team focused NBA podcasts in the nation, and the network is the largest independent sports outlet in South Florida, by views, listens and social media reach. He has a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and an M.S. from Columbia University. TWITTER: @EthanJSkolnick and @5ReasonsSports EMAIL: fllscribe@gmail.com

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