Heat wonders about one factor that fueled team in past. And Leonard expresses appreciation

The Heat’s deft three-point shooting is the most glaring tangible skill that seemingly disintegrated this season, at least until recently.

But there’s an important intangible element that also has been difficult to detect:

Last season, some Heat players spoke of drawing fuel from being overlooked or undrafted, or going later in the draft than they expected. That motivation appeared to carry over to their play last year.

Has that been lost this season?

“I think so, for better or worse,” guard Tyler Herro said. “I’m not sure why. I don’t think it’s any particular guy. As a team, we haven’t found that same chip on our shoulder.”

The Heat has nine undrafted players on its 15-man roster.

“We can’t forget that’s what has gotten us here,” Herro said. “Even myself and even Bam [Adebayo]. We’re lottery picks. But coming in, we weren’t some crazy, generational talent coming in. People didn’t know how good we were or how good we were going to be. We had to get out of the mud and we had to play with a chip on our shoulder to prove ourselves. That’s what got us all to this point.

“That’s kind of what we lost. We didn’t lose it - we just have to get it back. It’s there.”

Why did the Heat lose it? “I don’t know,” Herro said. “Guys continue to like to play with each other. It’s about playing as a unit. You can have as much talent as you want, but we have to play together and want to play together.”

Coach Erik Spoelstra said: “Having a monster-size chip on our shoulders has always been a big part of guys’ identities. That could be a chip on the shoulder or could just be savage competitiveness. At our core, that’s who we are. That’s not who we have been consistently the last 12 to 15 games. In pockets, we’ve done that.”

▪ Spoelstra said Tuesday morning that Adebayo responded well to treatment and is in line to play against Detroit on Tuesday. Adebayo missed Saturday’s game with a hip contusion.

ROSTER MOVE POSSIBLE

The Heat sometimes will cut a player during the final week of the season in order to get a promising developmental prospect under contract on a team-friendly three-year deal.

The Heat added Kendrick Nunn, Duncan Robinson and Briante Weber on those types of late-season contracts. Such a transaction looms as an option again this week.

One official who spoke to the Heat said he was left with the impression that Miami would stick with its current 15 players. But another wasn’t so sure.

The two Heat players on two-way contracts — center Orlando Robinson and forward Jamal Cain — could be converted to standard deals. So could guard Jamaree Bouyea or any other G League player.

But here’s the problem: If the Heat signs a developmental player to a standard contract before the season ends on Sunday, a player would need to be released from the 15-man roster. Players who could be at risk in that scenario include center Omer Yurtseven, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, and forward Haywood Highsmith, who has a $1.9 million team option for next season.

The Heat has retained its mid-level exception for this season, which would allow Miami to offer a three-year deal to a player during the final week of the season, if it chooses. Without using the midlevel, any minimum deals could not be longer than two years. Signing a player to a minimum deal at the end of the week — and cutting a current player — would not put Miami over the luxury tax threshold.

LEONARD APPRECIATIVE

Passover, a significant holiday in the Jewish religion, begins at sundown Wednesday, and there are few NBA players who probably know as much about the holiday as Bucks and former Heat center Meyers Leonard.

Leonard, back in the NBA for the first time since using an anti-Semitic slur in a livestream of a video game in 2021, expressed appreciation for Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and the Jewish community in comments to the Miami Herald in the Bucks’ locker room after the All Star break.

“I’ll never forget a note Spo wrote to me” following the 2020-21 season, Leonard said. “He sent me the photo book they do for the team about the previous season. He wrote me a handwritten note saying, ‘I hope you and [wife] Elle are doing well.’ The gist of it was ‘if there’s anybody who can go make this right and come back from something like this, it’s you.’

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come close to picking up the phone and tell Spo how much I appreciate that. I’ve had a draft in my email for so long. I never sent it for one reason — because I didn’t want him to think it had anything to do with the NBA or business, like I was trying to claw my way back in.”

Leonard reiterated that he didn’t know that the slur he used during a “Call of Duty” game was offensive to the Jewish community. The NBA suspended him a week and fined him $50,000.

Leonard has spent the past two years meeting with Rabbis and attended Shabbat services in South Florida, Los Angeles and Illinois, where he attended college. He also attended a Passover Seder, met with Holocaust survivors and conducted a basketball camp at a Boca Raton synagogue.

“I’ve learned an incredible amount about the Jewish community and myself,” he said. “It was a really big mistake, and I felt an extreme amount of shame and guilt because I truly loved Miami.”

Leonard said it was “painful to stand in front of the Jewish community and explain what happened. The Jewish community has welcomed me with open arms from Day One, nothing but love, faith and forgiveness. Maybe the most important part of the Jewish religion is forgiveness; that’s what I’ve learned.”

Leonard’s two year-absence from the NBA – before the Bucks signed him during the All-Star break - was mostly but not entirely a byproduct of his slur. He underwent ankle surgery in April 2021 and doctors determined he had nerve damage within the bottom half of his right leg.

Leonard has played 51 minutes in six appearances for the Bucks and has 24 points and hit 5 of 10 threes.