For Heat players, Wednesday's scrimmage against Sacramento will be an oasis in the desert, an opportunity to quench their thirst for game competition _ against players wearing different uniforms _ for the first time since the NBA season was suspended in mid-March due to COVID-19.
"This," swingman Derrick Jones Jr. said Tuesday, "is the moment we've all been waiting for. We all wanted to get back to basketball. I'm going to enjoy every moment of it."
And for coach Erik Spoelstra, it will be an opportunity to experiment _ and do a test run of playing in most unusual circumstances _ when the Heat plays the first of its three scrimmage games at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista.
"Part of this is going through the experience of a dry run of what it's going to feel like, look like, how we're going to operate," said Spoelstra, whose team arrived at Disney nearly two weeks ago. "This will have a different feel to it. Seating arrangements, communication, timeouts ... It will be important to have that dry run. In terms of playing on the court, it will probably be very similar to preseason. I won't play guys big minutes."
Above all, there is appreciation for being able to resume a season in the midst of a global pandemic.
"We are all so grateful we can partake in this and do what we love to do," Spoelstra said.
With Bam Adebayo and Kendrick Nunn still away from the team, Spoelstra said he hopes to play all 15 available players.
"I don't know if I'll be able to get to that," he said. "That probably isn't realistic. I'd like to."
Unlike during a typical October preseason game, Spoelstra has spoken with the coaches of Miami's first two scrimmage opponents _ Sacramento's Luke Walton and Utah's Quin Snyder _ about what both coaches hope to achieve. Walton noted Tuesday that "we know we'll get a lot of zone playing against Miami."
The first scrimmage for every team will feature 10-minute quarters instead of the usual 12 minutes. Games will return to the typical 48 minutes, instead of 40, when Miami plays Utah at 4 p.m. Saturday and Memphis in its final scrimmage at 8 p.m on July 29.
"I know everybody is looking forward to getting out there," Spoelstra said. "Our guys love to compete. They are also probably looking forward to playing somebody else other than themselves."
.Among the issues worth monitoring for the Heat over the three scrimmage games:
_ How Meyers Leonard looks in his first game against other NBA players since the day after the Super Bowl:
The Heat was 7-9 in the 16 consecutive games that Leonard missed with an ankle injury after going 34-15 with Leonard as a starter.
Though he plays modest minutes (20.1 per game), the Heat has clearly been better with Leonard in the lineup, allowing four fewer points per 100 possessions when he's on the court.
_ How a frontcourt looks temporarily without Adebayo:
The Heat remains hopeful that Adebayo will be in the lineup when seeding games begin Aug. 1 against Denver. But without him, Spoelstra's most realistic power-rotation options feature Leonard or Kelly Olynyk at center and perhaps Jae Crowder or Derrick Jones Jr. at power forward in an undersized lineup.
When Adebayo returns, there's a good chance that he plays power forward, with Leonard at center.
_ How the backcourt looks temporarily without Nunn:
As is the case with Adebayo, the Heat remains hopeful that Nunn will be in the lineup when seeding games begin.
In the interim, Miami must replace a player who started all 62 games in which he appeared this season.
That would leave Spoelstra with a starting choice among Tyler Herro, who has started six games, Jones Jr. and Andre Iguodala.
_ How the defense looks after regression in the final five weeks before the NBA stoppage:
For perspective, the Heat allowed 108.1 points per 100 possessions during its 34-15 start but permitted 112.3 per 100 over its final 16 games before the stoppage, when Miami went 7-9.
"We have size, we have versatility, we have speed, we have big wings," Spoelstra said. "We just need to get a little bit more comfortable and committed to our philosophy."
_ How do Heat players respond without fans in the stands?
Jones said "it's something we are going to adapt to. I know I am the guy for it."
Jimmy Butler said playing without crowds might give the Heat "a little bit of advantage. We have a bunch of young guys that may not be used to playing in the playoffs and realizing how important every possession is. But with nobody in stands, nobody heckling you, it's all competition and that's what we want."
Udonis Haslem cracked that "I tend to have a potty mouth on the sideline so I have to watch what I say" without crowd noise to drown it out.
The goal beginning Wednesday, Butler said, is "just getting comfortable hooping again, getting in a rhythm, making sure that we're still playing for one another."
