The Heat’s Erik Spoelstra compares the forward to PJ Tucker

MIAMI – Like The Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs on sunday, the team gave extended minutes to a long-awaited lineup with bama adebayo and kelle ware in the frontcourt. Thinking about Heat in front of the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, and still the head coach Erik Spoelstra must make the decision to possibly start a rookie which would mean sending Haywood Highsmith to the bench.

However, whether he’s on the second unit or in the starting lineup, Spoelstra mentioned before Tuesday’s contest how important he is to the Highsmith team this season. He would even compare his role to that of the former Miami star PJ Tucker in how he deals with everything “dirty business.”

“You have to be ready, you have to always go to the other team’s best players, you don’t know if you’re going to start or if you’re going to come off the bench, and then as soon as you go out there, everybody’s looking at the player you’re guarding,” Spoelstra said. “And then those responsibilities and expectations are tenfold, but it’s a job, and there are a lot of people who would love to have that job, and Heywood was one of them.”

“The model that we’ve always kind of built, you know, for him is the PJ Tucker role, you know,” Spoelstra continued. “You can make a great career and a great role, you know, doing that kind of thing, the dirty work, so to speak.” And he accepted it all.”

There’s no doubt that Spoelstra means what he says The Heat re-signed Highsmith last offseason when he emerged as a top defensive player and this season has shown him to guard the best players in the league. Tucker played for Miami from 2021-2022.

Erik Spoelstra says Heat “believe” in Highwood Highsmith

However, the minutes have varied and could continue with how well the lineup played with Vero and Adebayo together on Sunday along with Tyler Herr, Duncan Robinson and Jimmy Butler.

With everything drama with the Heat star in Butlerthat could leave a spot in the starting line-up open for Highsmith if the 35-year-old is traded before the deadline. At the same time, Spoelstra has been one of the coaches who makes his starters earn their minutes, which means it could take a while to pull the trigger on Ware in the starting lineup.

Either way, Spoelstra emphasized the importance of Highsmith and his role on the team, even saying it could lead to more things as Miami “figures things out.” “consistent” playing time.

“Well, we definitely have a need for him,” Spoelstra said. “So I’ve actually talked to him about that, that sometimes when things are fluid and moving fast, sometimes things happen, and that’s not an indictment at all or an indicator of how you play, and he’s an example of that.” . He had really important minutes and his role is important for us. You just have to stick with it. We all believe in it, we all know its importance. And as we figure things out, his minutes will probably be more consistent.”

The Heat are 21-20, which puts them in eighth place in the Eastern Conference before Tuesday’s game against Portland.