Jimmy Butler still hoping NBA honors jersey request. And more from Heat’s Monday practice
The Miami Heat practiced at night at Walt Disney World for the third time in four days on Monday.
Here are highlights from media availability following the Heat’s ninth Disney practice, as coach Erik Spoelstra, All-Star wing Jimmy Butler and forward Duncan Robinson spoke to reporters on a video conference call ...
Five questions facing the Heat entering the restart. One, what will the rotation look like?
▪ Butler said he’s still waiting on a definitive ruling from the NBA and National Basketball Players Association regarding his request to play without his last name on his jersey when the season restarts. Butler is also the only player on the Heat’s 17-man roster who opted not to wear a social justice message on the back of his jersey.
“To be determined,” Butler said Monday when asked if he’s heard from the league on his request. “We got a couple more days to figure it out. But I’m hoping that my request is put through.”
If Butler’s request is granted he will only wear the No. 22 on the back of his jersey when the Heat begins its eight-game “seeding” schedule on Aug. 1 against the Denver Nuggets.
“I felt like with no message, with no name, it’s going back to who I was,” Butler said last week of his jersey request. “If I wasn’t who I was today, I’m no different than anybody else of color. I want that to be my message in the sense that just because I’m an NBA player, everybody has the same right no matter what.”
After Butler made his request public, more than 30 players participating in the restart also requested a blank nameplate on their jerseys, according to Vincent Goodwill from Yahoo Sports.
“I’m hoping that [the NBA] comes back and sees the message that I want to get out there, and let me speak on something the way that I would like to speak on it,” Butler said Monday of his jersey request. “Like I said, to be determined. We really don’t know. I’ll keep pressing for it. And I hear plenty of other players around the league would like to do that same.”
▪ The NBA announced Monday that 346 players were tested at Disney since test results were last announced on July 13, and zero returned positive for COVID-19. This is confirmation the league’s bubble concept has worked so far.
“To be honest with you, I’ve felt safe ever since I’ve been here,” Robinson said. “I think the league has definitely laid out the red carpet with us and they’ve prioritized player safety. That was something they were very clear about coming in and obviously you expect little bumps in the road here and there. So it wouldn’t have surprised me if there was a positive test at all. But it’s great news to hear that there hasn’t been.”
Spoelstra added that “it just shows you the level of detail and thought and planning that went on before we even arrived here.”
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▪ Spoelstra said he sees “great potential with our team defensively.”
“We have size, we have versatility, we have speed, we have big wings,” he said. “We just need to get a little bit more comfortable and committed to our philosophy.”
The Heat has posted the league’s 14th-best defensive rating (allowing 109.2 points per 100 possessions) this season, and owns the 13th-best defensive rating of the 22 teams participating in the restart.
▪ When asked if the four-month break allowed him to make adjustments to his outside shot, Butler said: “I’m just fine with how my game was. I feel like we can be better as a whole. But like I always say, as long as we’re winning games, nobody’s really paying attention to that. If we win a championship this year, I guarantee you all won’t be talking about how bad I’ve been shooting the basketball.”
Butler is shooting 24.8 percent on threes this season, which would go down as his worst three-point-shooting season since making 18.2 percent of his threes as a rookie in 2011-12. But he’s averaging team highs in points (20.2), assists (6.1) and steals (1.7) in his first season with the Heat.
▪ Of the disturbance complaint Butler received for dribbling a basketball while going through a workout in his Disney hotel room, he said: “To know that my work is being noticed, I guess that’s not so much of a bad thing.”
▪ Butler said Heat rookie Tyler Herro “has that built-in type DNA. He’s not complacent. He has a chip on his shoulder. He knows how great that he can be.”
▪ Heat center Bam Adebayo and guard Kendrick Nunn remained in Miami on Monday, but the hope is they will join the team in Central Florida soon. The Heat has declined to comment on their absences because of privacy reasons.
Adebayo and Nunn are the only two players who did not travel with the Heat to Disney earlier this month.
The NBA on Monday announced each team’s rosters for the restart. As expected, all 17 of the Heat’s players were listed, including Adebayo and Nunn.
“There will be an adjustment period, that’s natural,” Robinson said of eventually working Adebayo and Nunn back into the rotation. “But I know those guys have been doing their due diligence and they’ve been staying in shape, as well. So we’re itching and excited to get them back, as I know they are to get here. Like anything, it will take a little bit of an adjustment period, but that’s what practices are for, that’s what walkthroughs are for, and scrimmages, us against each other, and going live, and just get re-acclimated with that.”
