Heat wraps up ‘very productive’ training camp in Bahamas. A look at the busy week ahead

From team dinners hosted by Jimmy Butler to competitive scrimmages to games of dominoes to time in the ocean, it was a productive week in the Bahamas for the Miami Heat.

The Heat wrapped up training camp at the Baha Mar resort on Saturday with a closed practice and then a short scrimmage in front of children from the island and hotel VIPs.

“We’ve loved it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s been a very productive camp for us here in this place where we have the court and then it’s also been good for us being outside, taking in the Bahamas air. We’ve had some good dinners. All of it has just been really good.”

This marked the fourth time that the Heat has held training camp in the Bahamas, with the previous three times coming prior to the 2013-14 season, before the 2016-17 season and ahead of the 2022-23 season. After making it all the way to the NBA Finals during the 2013-14 and 2022-23 seasons but losing both times, the Heat hopes training camp in the Bahamas leads to another deep playoff run this season.

“We love it down here,” Spoelstra continued. “All the players love it, the staff loves it, Micky [Arison] loves being down here in the Bahamas. They have such a presence down here with Carnival [Cruise Line]. We’ve had great experiences when we’ve come down here. I believe the last time we were down here, we went to the Finals. So if you can guarantee that and then get us to that next step, we’ll come down here every year.”

Except an NBA rule prevents teams from holding training camp outside the United States and Canada in consecutive seasons. That has had the Heat sprinkling in training camps at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton in recent years.

“We can’t come [to the Bahamas] every year,” Spoelstra said, referring to that rule. “We have to come every other year. But it’s something different. I think what it does is it signals that it’s training camp, it’s a new beginning, it’s an opportunity to lay down the foundation hopefully for a very good season.”

The Heat, which is carrying the NBA’s preseason maximum of 21 players on its roster, now returns to Miami for the start of another busy week.

The Heat’s week begins with its annual “Red, White & Pink Game” intrasquad scrimmage on Monday at Kaseya Center before a trip to Charlotte, N.C., to open its five-game preseason schedule on Tuesday against the Hornets. The Heat also has preseason games on Thursday against the Atlanta Hawks and Sunday, Oct. 13 against the New Orleans Pelicans in Miami this upcoming week.

“We laid down the first few bricks of the foundation for this season,” Spoelstra said Saturday at the end of training camp. “It was a very productive week all across the board. The work in the gym, the connection pieces outside the gym. Everybody was also able to just kind of relax and spend some time together in the evenings, and then now we just continue. The preseason starts on Tuesday. We view that still as an extension of training camp.”

UD’S WAY

One of the constants throughout Heat training camp this week was the presence of Udonis Haslem.

Haslem retired at the end of the 2022-23 season following a 20-year NBA playing career spent entirely with the Heat, but he has continued to work on the practice court with Heat players. That trend continued this week, as Haslem was often seen participating in drills with players toward the end of training camp practices in the Bahamas.

“It just shows you how unique of a human being and a professional that UD is,” Spoelstra said. “He doesn’t have to do any of this. He doesn’t have to certainly be out here in practice gear and be out here sweating with the guys and working with the guys. But that’s how he earns his trust with them and he just continues to mentor everybody in the gym — the vets, the young guys like Kel’el [Ware].”

Haslem, who spent the final 16 seasons of his playing career as a Heat captain, and the Heat’s current captain Bam Adebayo teamed up to help Ware navigate his first NBA training camp. That guidance will continue throughout Ware’s rookie season.

“I think it’s just tremendous for Kel’el at 20 years old to have a mentor like UD, but also Bam,” Spoelstra said. “UD mentored the next mentor and now they’re both able to use their superpowers to help him. That’s why we think we have the structure to be able to help a young big like him succeed.”