With the final day of Training Camp in the books, the Miami HEAT looked back at how everything went at The Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in Nassau, Bahamas. Below are some tidbits you need to know from Day 5 of Training Camp Presented by Baptist Health South Florida.
“A Good First Step”
While Training Camp is always vital, it becomes even more important when you have plenty of new faces on the roster like Miami does. It may have only been five days, but Coach Spo was still pleased with how the team went to work.
“You never get everything you want to took strides in becoming more connected, developing some leadership and learning how to communicate and how to receive communication. We did get better in those areas. It's a good first step.”
Udonis Haslem, one of the unquestioned leaders on the team, echoed his coach's sentiments.
“Everybody worked hard, everybody was receptive to the information. The intensity was high. We still got to do better of retaining the information and just putting it out there on the floor. We get to moving fast and you start to get a little tired and things start to go sideways. That's just expected right now. It's early, but I'm encouraged by the way the guys came in and worked.”
Team Bonding
Having camp away from home is nothing new for the HEAT. Often times, it's led to camaraderie and a solid foundation for the rest of the season. Coach Spo seemed to enjoy Training Camp 2016 in The Bahamas.
“We always like to get away. You just have more opportunities that are unscripted. It has to be organic. You can't force it upon on a group. It just happens very naturally here. Like I said, it was a great environment to be here . The bus rides, all the meals that we had together, they're a lot of enjoyable things that happened. Even a team barbeque last night. It was a lot of fun.”
” was refreshing because it was nice to get the entire group together, entire staff, all the players, in a different environment from the work environment. Guys could let their hair down and just kind of relax.”
Speaking of the team barbeque, Haslem stated that Goran Dragic “was killing us in American Dominoes.” It seems like Dragic certainly had a good time.
“We finished one practice, we had a good meeting and after that it was just relaxing and having fun. The fellas, taught me how to play Dominoes, and it was fun. Something new, but at the same time you can talk with those guys, ask them some different questions, get to know them and it's always fun.”
Looking Ahead
Since the HEAT traveled back to Miami on Saturday afternoon, the team will have Sunday off before getting back to work on Monday. From there, Miami will head up to Washington D.C. for its preseason opener against the Wizards on Tuesday.
