The Heat don’t expect Giannis Antetokounmpo to settle in right away after spending the first 13 years of his career in Milwaukee, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.
“You change your address after such a long period of time where you’re comfortable, you know how to operate and know what to expect. It’s different,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We want to be mindful of that, but we also want to be open to the possibilities of change. That includes us changing as necessary to make sure that we’re bringing out the best in him. “This ends up being a symbiotic relationship. Hopefully, we’re bringing out the best in him. Hopefully, he’s bringing out the best in our organization. And there will be a process. We have to work through that. I’ve been at this a long time, and I never have hit it on the bullseye on the first day of training camp.”
When he does get comfortable, Spoelstra is excited at the prospect of having a player that other teams must focus on defensively, seeing that as a benefit to all his new teammates.
“We’ll try to find some other ways to maximize his gifts, but he’s pretty much done it all,” he said. “Pick-and-rolls at the top of the floor with bigs, pick-and-rolls with smalls. Same thing on the wings. But I think more than anything, it’s been his ability to force not a second defender, a third defender. And that creates a bunch of havoc to someone’s defense. We lived it. One extra defender is not enough. And then you get a third one, and his willingness and his improvement with his passing over the years gets you in scramble mode. You have to really be moving and be ahead of things. That part of his IQ and his vision and his playmaking, we’ll be looking forward to exploring that as well.”
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