The Miami Heat’s first month of having Kel’el Ware was productive. The 20-year-old center, who was chosen by the Heat with the 15th overall choice in the first round of this year’s draft on June 26, has already won a championship ring.
despite the fact that he is still two months away from the start of his first NBA training camp.
Yes, summer league is where the championship ring was won. However, one of the most encouraging aspects of the team’s offseason was quickly Ware’s play over the previous few weeks, which helped the Heat win its first Las Vegas Summer League championship. During a Thursday visit to engage and snap pictures with young players at SLAM! Miami charter school’s Jr. Heat Basketball Camp, Ware remarked, “That was my first summer league.” It was certainly a wonderful experience to be able to participate in that with the men I played with and to win.
During the Heat’s six-game run to the Las Vegas Summer league championship, Ware averaged 18 points, 8.3 rebounds, one assist, one steal, and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 61.8 percent from the field and 3 of 10 (30 percent) from three-point range. Ware’s performance earned him a berth on the All-Summer League First Team.
This year’s other recipients of the All-Summer League First Team title were the Houston Rockets’ Reed Sheppard, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Jordan Miller, the Memphis Grizzlies’ Scotty Pippen Jr., and the Memphis Grizzlies’ GG Jackson II. The only players selected this year who made that list are Sheppard, the third overall pick, and Ware, the fifteenth overall pick. In eight summer league games this month, including the California Classic that came before Las Vegas, Ware shot 58.4 percent from the field and averaged 18.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 1.7 blocks per contest. In five of the eight games, he recorded a double-double.
When asked about Ware, Heat summer league head coach Dan Bisaccio responded, “We challenge him every day and he loves the challenge to get as many rebounds as possible.” We made it clear that you could only receive 10 [rebounds]. It is imperative that you pursue those, maintain the boards, and safeguard the rim. He truly has embraced the task and is running with it in that regard. He has simply accepted it on a daily basis, and we will keep pushing him. I informed him that we would not stop challenging him until he gave up playing basketball.
After the summer league triumph, Ware received congratulations via text from a number of people, including former Heat captain and forward Udonis Haslem and current Heat captain and center Bam Adebayo. What Ware took away from his first summer league experience was “just having more confidence in myself to go out there and play basketball the way I have always been playing and just going out there and competing.”
As a result of everything, Kevin Pelton of ESPN declared that Ware was the greatest rookie in the summer league this year. John Hollinger of The Athletic named Ware “the best rookie big man in Vegas.” If Ware continues to produce this much on offense, he can be used as a backup quarterback while he becomes better at defense, according to Hollinger. “The Heat can probably enter the upcoming season with greater confidence that Ware can play backup center to Bam Adebayo and advance from there, given his success in Vegas.” Compared to his summer league position, Ware’s involvement with the Heat in his rookie NBA season will be less. There will be more competition for him to contend with.
However, the Heat will benefit from Ware’s stature, as he stands 7 feet tall with a wingspan of 7 feet 5 inches, and his versatility as a powerful roller and rim protector when playing defense. In comparison to the other centers on the club (Adebayo, Kevin Love, and Thomas Bryant), Ware is the tallest player on the Heat roster and offers a unique skill set. Ware also keeps emphasizing his belief that he can lead larger lineups for the Heat by playing in the frontcourt with Adebayo.
When asked if Ware will play alongside Adebayo on Thursday, he responded, “Me and Bam can definitely play beside each other because we complement each other so well.” “I can protect the paint and just do what I always do because he truly plays the four position, and me coming in as the five man.”
He is finished his two-month tour, which included trips to New York for the NBA Draft, Miami for his press conference upon arrival, the West Coast for summer league, and all around the country for pre-draft workouts with various teams. Ware will now spend a considerable amount of time in Miami training with Heat coaches in order to get ready for his debut NBA season. For now, Miami is home, according to Ware, an Arkansas native. “Well, I am getting ready right now here.”