He wasn’t always perfect, but there’s no doubt that Miami Heat rookie Kel’el Ware was one of the top rookies during this year’s Summer League. He was named to the All-Summer League first team on Monday and, better yet, helped lead the team to their first Summer League title over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Though he received even more notoriety on Tuesday, as ESPN NBA analyst Kevin Pelton dubbed Ware said he was the league’s best rookie in Las Vegas, Nev.
“Playing every game for the Heat en route to the title, Ware averaged 18.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in a well-rounded performance that suggests he might be able to battle for minutes in Miami as a rookie,” Pelton wrote. “Ware, the No. 15 pick out of Indiana, recorded four double-doubles — including one in the title game — and had 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks in his best performance against the Dallas Mavericks.”
The other two rookies in the mix were Orlando’s Tristan da Silva and Cleveland’s Jaylon Tyson.
Pelton prefaced by stating that performances from the California Classic and Salt Lake Summer Leagues–which did not include all 30 teams, rather roughly a handful each–were excluded.
In eight combined games, Ware averaged 18.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 26.7 minutes per game, shooting 58.4 percent from the floor and 68.7 percent from the free-throw line. He boasted a 59.9 effective field goal percentage, 62.2 true-shooting percentage and 24.4 player efficiency rating (PER) in such games as well.
It wasn’t always perfect for Ware, especially defensively. He exclusively played drop with a mixed bag in quality of reps over his first seven games, though the Heat blitzed him in the championship game against Memphis despite having an undersized back-line for most of the evening.
Ware still showed that he could rim run and be a quality shot-blocker–improving his discipline throughout his time in San Francisco and Las Vegas. He was also a very capable vertical spacer with soft hands, using his 9-foot-5 standing reach and 36-inch vertical to his advantage as a play finisher.
It’s going to take time to refine his overall game. He turned 20-years-old in April, though the tools he showcased over the past several weeks despite lacking strength in the core and lower-half were quite impressive. It’s going to be interesting to monitor how much stronger he gets by the time training camp rolls around in early October, in addition to how he fine-tunes every area of his game.
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My man!
2guru 😆
gotta admit I was skeptical about this pick, but it looks like the kid has potential. At worst, he’s a shot blocker that can protect the pain on defense and screen & roll on offense. If he can learn to blitz the p&r on defense and stretch the floor on offense, he would be a perfect compliment to Bam and Jovic. Somehow the Heat just keep finding quality NBA players deep in the draft
Nice to have him. Can not remember when last a Heat center had a cluster of undersized players defending him. Several sports reporters have suggested that when he develops the lower body strength, he will be difficult to defend under or near the rim. I see an additional value to his presence. The Heat may occasionally play the triangle offense, as he draws multiple defenders from the perimeter to the paint, thus opening up shooters in the wings for open shots. Welcome to the Heat, Ware! 🙏.