15 mins of Heat! The former Miami Heat Assistant Coach and great Tony Fiorentino joins the show to discuss jr. Miami Heat camp coming up during spring break! The Coach also discusses the Miami Heat's struggles, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kel'el Ware's season and how coaches deal with losing streaks.
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00:00We are going to go out to the guest line and talk to the great Tony Fiorentino.
00:04We got a little heat basketball coming up tonight, but
00:06spring break is right upon us.
00:09And so if you guys want to send your kids to junior heat camp,
00:13they got a spring break camp happening March 24th through the 28th.
00:17It is available for boys and girls ages seven to 17.
00:20Let's bring on the coach, Tony Fiorentino.
00:22He joins us here.
00:23Hey, coach, how are you?
00:24Hey, guys, how are you doing?
00:26Good. It's great to have you.
00:27It's great to have you, coach.
00:29Are you getting all these kids to stop chucking up threes like Steph Curry?
00:32Are you getting them back to the fundamentals?
00:34Well, you think that watching games on TV has an influence on kids.
00:39A few years ago, there was a game going on in the camp.
00:42Maybe 10, 11 year olds were playing and it was a two on one break.
00:46And the kid comes down the floor of the point guard
00:49and he does what he's supposed to do.
00:50He occupies the defender.
00:53He has a teammate cutting on the left wing.
00:55He throws a perfect bounce pass.
00:57Ball goes out of bounds.
00:58The kid stopped at the three point line.
01:00Oh, my God.
01:03So that was a lecture I had to give him after that.
01:07At the end of the day with the kids.
01:09From your standpoint with this with this whole program,
01:13what is the thing you find most rewarding with with getting these these kids out
01:17there, they get to see Glenn Rice and a lot of the players come out.
01:20It really does seem every time I go and check you guys out,
01:23it always seems like just a fun event. Everybody's loving.
01:25Well, it's great.
01:26They're wide eyed. You know, the first criteria is to have fun.
01:29That's the that's the first goal in camp.
01:32And we teach life skills along with basketball skills.
01:36You know, you've got to be able to listen to your parents,
01:39listen to your teachers, listen to your coach.
01:41It's all in the same vein.
01:42And we teach a lot of fundamentals.
01:44One of my favorite phrases is there's a misnomer in our in our
01:49vocabulary when we speak.
01:52A lot of people have authority.
01:53Practice doesn't make perfect.
01:55Practice makes permanent.
01:57Whatever you practice, if you practice dribbling with your head down
02:01and your body up, you're going to do that in the game.
02:04So we're trying to create good habits both on and off the court.
02:08So I use that phrase a lot.
02:09Practice makes permanent.
02:11And the kids get it.
02:12You know, I tell them on Monday, if you pay attention
02:16and you do what we ask you to do with the drills,
02:18you are going to improve by Friday.
02:20It's a given.
02:22You have to get better.
02:24And how much better you get is determined on how much you listen
02:28and apply what we're teaching you.
02:30And so by Friday, it's really interesting.
02:32We play three on three games every Monday, Wednesday
02:35and Friday morning, three on three or four on four.
02:38And it's amazing how much better the kids get by Friday
02:42because most kids, when they come to camp, they think basketball
02:45is only about shooting the ball.
02:47And I wish I had a dime.
02:48Every time I said to the kids, pass the ball, pass the ball, pass the ball.
02:53You know, I had a kid was perplexed when he made a jump shot from the foul line.
02:57I said, good shot.
02:59But you had a teammate open for a layup.
03:01And so these are the kind of little instructions that we give them
03:05to try to get them to play more together as a group
03:08rather than as an individual coach.
03:10You find out with kids when they see NBA players
03:14and they see guys out there, they're looking at the finished product
03:18and not the work that those guys put in.
03:21And sometimes that tends to be the issue.
03:25Like everybody wants to be Steph Curry.
03:28Nobody sees the work that Steph Curry puts into it.
03:31And if guys knew how much work they put into it,
03:35then they would have to decide if they're willing and determined
03:37to put that type of work in to get to that finished product.
03:41Now, it's a good point, Leroy, because we often I often tell them, look,
03:46you know, I was on the heat coaching staff for 11 years
03:49and I know what they do behind the scenes. Right.
03:52And right now is we have camp and maybe 10 o'clock, 1030 in the morning.
03:56They're in the gym right now and they're working.
03:59That's where you don't see that behind the scenes.
04:02Everybody sees the glory and all of the stuff on TV.
04:05And but they work their butts off, especially the heat.
04:08I said for years when I was on the air with Eric,
04:11that we have arguably the best teaching staff in the NBA.
04:14Our guys get better in a short period of time
04:18than most other teams players get better.
04:20And you see that in some of the development of like the Struces
04:23and guys like that that come into the league as G League players, practically.
04:27And then they wind up with big contracts because they they buy
04:31into the system that the heat has.
04:33They work very hard.
04:34The heat are very pragmatic with everything.
04:36They hit guys between the eyes with what they don't do well,
04:39what they need to work on, and they totally buy into it.
04:42And look what happens.
04:43Look at that.
04:43Look at the track record.
04:44So we bring that up all the time with the kids about the work ethic that they have.
04:49Junior, he camp is going to be going down March 24th to the 28th.
04:53It's going to be at slam Miami high school.
04:55You guys can register now.
04:56He dot com and go check it out.
04:57The great Tony Fiorentino joining us here, coach you.
05:00OK, so being on a staff, what is this time like right now for the stat?
05:04You guys are you're trying to figure things out for whatever rhyme or reason.
05:09The Miami heat just they have so many good things happening in a game and it
05:13just falls out from them in the fourth quarter.
05:15What is this like of just searching for answers?
05:17And what do you think is just going on right now behind the scenes of this team?
05:21I'm sure Leroy experienced this a little bit when it seems like at times
05:26when you seem like you can't lose, you know, when we had LeBron
05:30and them and Wade and Bosch and guys, we won 27 games in a row.
05:34We were down 28 points in Cleveland, the worst team in the league,
05:38and won the game in the fourth.
05:39I mean, it was unbelievable.
05:41But then you got the other side of it where no matter what you do,
05:44you seem to be snake bit.
05:46You know, the other night, the heat it down to and Bam's got an easy
05:49tap in at the basket and it rolls around the rim and out
05:52and they get a layup at the other end.
05:54It just seems like when things are not going well, the ball rolls the wrong way.
05:59Shots that are usually made are missed and little things that happen
06:02in your favor seem to go the other way.
06:04So you feel snake bit.
06:06You can't fall into the rut, though, of the psychological aspect of it saying,
06:11OK, you get towards the end of the game and you have a lead
06:15and you start thinking, oh, we can't hold on to it.
06:18I'm sure that none of that enters their mind.
06:20But psychologically, innately, some of that could get in there.
06:24And you and you and you kind of like force yourself
06:28or you wind up not winning the game
06:32because maybe there's a little doubt there.
06:35Well, so I know that the coach Bolster to me is the best coach in the NBA.
06:40He's got a great track record being the Hall of Fame one day.
06:43And the approach that they always take is always he's always positive.
06:48He's always got they're working hard.
06:50And you just know they're going to break through.
06:52We just don't know where or when.
06:54And now the schedule is getting harder with, you know, a lot of good teams
06:57coming up in a row.
06:59So they have to find a way to get that get through for that one win.
07:03Get that confidence back.
07:05And then the you roll from there because they still got a shot,
07:09you know, of having a better seed
07:13going into the playoffs, going into the play-ins.
07:17And then, you know, you saw what happened two years ago.
07:19They had to win that game against Chicago after being down with four minutes left
07:24to get to it, to advance.
07:25And they got to the finals. So you never know.
07:28Coach, like this is just me, and I've played in games like this
07:34where sometimes you're just you're playing the game, you're going,
07:38you're doing all your sets, you're running all your plays, you're doing.
07:42But you're not aware because you're so focused on kind of,
07:48you know, running through your plays and being good at that,
07:52that you become unaware of where you are in the game.
07:56And it seems to me that sometimes like
08:00somebody needs to say, hey, guys, here's where we are.
08:05Let's get a bunny, let's get free throws, let's
08:08let's slow this thing down because they come down and they still
08:12chucking up threes and they haven't been shooting it well.
08:15And they just keep doing the same things when they go down the court.
08:19Have you ever what do you tell a team that is say
08:24all of a sudden they hit a close stretch shooting three
08:27and they've shot the ball well for two and a half, three quarters?
08:31What do you tell a team like, OK, let's get to the rim.
08:34Let's get to the free throw line.
08:35Some players are aware of this.
08:37It seems like they're not aware of where they are in the game at times.
08:42Well, it's a good point for human nature being what it is.
08:45When your team is struggling, the better players try to do too much.
08:50And maybe there's there's a little bit of hero basketball,
08:53you know, shooting and that happens.
08:55It's human nature.
08:56And, you know, and especially if you're one of the leaders of the team,
09:00maybe you try to do a little too much
09:02because you're trying to make up for the loss or trying to make up
09:05for what's not going on.
09:07All they can do, and I'm sure they do this all the time.
09:09They sit down, they look at tape, they show the players
09:12where this could have been different, that could have been different.
09:16You know, the other night the heat was up, too.
09:19And they come down and shoot a quick three.
09:22I remember I know what you're saying, Leroy.
09:24And maybe that's not that's not the time to do that.
09:27Get your offense set.
09:28But again, the human nature being what it is, you're trying to hit a home run.
09:32But but usually when you try to hit a home run, you either hit a home run
09:36or you strike out.
09:37It's one or the other.
09:38And you don't want something in between. Right.
09:40And so it's a constant teaching element that they have.
09:44They sit down with the guys with the iPads.
09:46They sit down as a team.
09:47They look at film and they see where they can improve.
09:51And they they do this.
09:52And somewhere along the way, it's going to click in where the team,
09:56certain guys may have it, but you need everybody on the same page.
10:00And eventually it breaks through because we've been there, you know,
10:03when I was when we first started, we won 15, 18 and 24 games.
10:08You lost 17 in a row before we won our first game
10:11against the Clippers in Los Angeles that first year.
10:14Certain things start to click in after a while.
10:17And you hope that tonight is the night that it starts.
10:20Coach, you always do such a great job with these guys.
10:22I see you go up to them before games about the improvements
10:24they're making and the work they're putting in.
10:26I'm curious what you're seeing with Jaime Hawkins this year.
10:29You know, he looked like a guy.
10:30He played at his own pace last year.
10:32Just let the game kind of come to him.
10:34And then, you know, the summer, I don't know if it feels like things
10:37are sped up or the league's adjusted, but it hasn't been as smooth,
10:40I guess, as the rookie year was.
10:41What do you what do you make a Jaime season so far?
10:44I thought he started out pretty well when the season started.
10:47Then he got hurt.
10:49And it seems like he never was able to get back to that point where
10:53where he had the rhythm of every game.
10:56And it seemed like he had he had games where he was very good
10:59and he had games where he seemed to struggle a little bit.
11:04His game is a power game going to the rim.
11:07He's very good now with those little shot fakes inside, setting up opponents.
11:13He's a very good rebounder.
11:14He handles the ball well.
11:16I just think he never got really in that groove
11:18that he was in when the season started.
11:21And it's very difficult to get it back because then he was out a few games again.
11:25Then he was out of the rotation because other guys were playing better.
11:28And so, you know, maybe he lost a little bit of confidence along the way.
11:33All of those things happen, especially if guys are playing ahead of you
11:37or you're hurt and you're losing.
11:39That compounds the whole thing.
11:40So he's a very good player.
11:42I know that he thinks highly of him.
11:45I think he's going to rally somewhere.
11:48You know, he only got 18 games left, but they need him like everybody else.
11:51So when they whatever minutes they play, they've got it.
11:54You've got to come in and just do his job.
11:56He plays hard.
11:57He never says a word to the officials.
11:59Sometimes he gets fouled.
12:00It doesn't say anything.
12:02That's how you want a guy to play.
12:04Even killed. Don't get up. Don't get down.
12:06And see if you can get back into that groove he was in when the season started.
12:11Did you did you like the the other night
12:13when we had the the the record broken with Ronnie Cykli in the building?
12:17What was that like for you?
12:19Well, you know, obviously, I go back to when Ronnie was here.
12:22I was on that staff and Ronnie after his first year in the NBA,
12:27you know, he shot 51 percent from the foul line his first year.
12:30And it affected him.
12:33Offensively, because he shied away from going to the basket.
12:37He want to get fouled.
12:38Right. He didn't want to go to the foul line.
12:40So he worked that summer in between the first and second year.
12:44And he came in. We went five days a week.
12:46Myself, Dave Wall, Coach Rothstein, head coach, Coach Rothstein,
12:51and worked with all the guys that summer.
12:53And he got the best footwork of any big man.
12:56He went to the Fifth Street gym with Angelo Dundee on the beach.
13:01The famous boxing trainer.
13:04And he worked with his footwork there.
13:06And it all clicked for him.
13:07His free throw shooting got bad.
13:09I think he shot 59 percent his second year.
13:11So it got better that way.
13:12And he got more confidence in himself.
13:15The coach got more confidence in him.
13:18And so I think he is one of the best rebounders in the history of the Miami Heat.
13:22A lot of people aren't aware of that because it's so so long ago.
13:26You know, he left right before Pat Riley came to the Heat.
13:30And so it was great to see Ronnie and and get to hear him speak
13:34about how much he adores the fact that Bam is breaking his record
13:40because it's somebody that he appreciates and respects.
13:43And and you could tell that Ronnie respects the game.
13:47He respects his years in Miami and he respects Bam.
13:51And so it really made it cool that Eric Reed made that happen
13:55by initiating this whole thing.
13:57And they got together on the practice court.
13:59They exchanged jerseys and then they had them on for a quarter during the game.
14:03All of that was just a great night for for Ronnie and for Bam.
14:07When you watch Khalil, like we're seeing, you know, some real, real eye
14:12popping moments, I think this Hornets game, you know, you saw kind of a
14:15maybe one of the games where he kind of struggled with with Williams a little bit.
14:18But man, he's he's so impressive, Tony, like some of the things
14:22that he could do when he's on with the block shots and
14:26and just the target that he is.
14:28What have you made of his rookie year so far?
14:30He's got a big upside.
14:32He went through a stretch where he was really playing well,
14:35getting double figure rebounds, blocking shots, scoring.
14:39He has he's had his ups and downs, as you would imagine a rookie would.
14:44OK, and but he's learning so much.
14:47And you could see the growth in him.
14:50I thought earlier in the season as a shot blocker,
14:53one of the things he had to learn and he's learning it.
14:56He started to go after every shot.
14:57And then you start to realize that if you try to go after a block
15:01that you can't get, your man's going to get the rebound and put it in.
15:04He's learning those little nuances about when to go for the block,
15:08when to stay home, things of that nature.
15:11It's all about positioning.
15:13The other night, he seemed to be a little step away from blocking shots.
15:17Maybe, you know, he'll position himself a little better
15:20by looking at the tapes with the coaches, things of that nature.
15:24Then offensively, he's just going to continue to grow.
15:26People remember that BAM the first year or two when he was
15:29when BAM would catch the ball, his first or second,
15:32he wasn't even looking at the rim.
15:34He was catching the ball.
15:35He's looking to distribute.
15:36He had first learned to be more assertive, looking at the rim.
15:39That's what I think that's what you're going to find out with Kalel.
15:43He's learning so much.
15:44He's going to be so much more educated as an NBA player
15:48when the season's over than when it began.
15:50And then he's going to work, you know, in the offseason with the coaches.
15:53He's going to come back for a good sophomore year.
15:55And so I I'm I'm excited about the the the the capacity
16:02that what he can get to as a player.
16:04He's got all the tools.
16:05It looks like he's another one.
16:07He keeps an even keel, doesn't say much, doesn't get too excited,
16:09doesn't get that doesn't get too low when things don't go well.
16:13You love that kind of attitude.
16:15And from what everybody says, he really works his butt off in practice.
16:18Is that is that a a young big guy's issue?
16:24Like, I don't care who you are deciding when to go block,
16:27when not to go in and defend the paint and then giving up an alley,
16:31knowing when to go and when to stay.
16:34It seems like that is one of the issues he has all year.
16:37But is that just a a big man in general
16:42when they first get into the league is knowing when to go
16:45and when to stay or, you know, when to leave your guy?
16:49No, I don't doubt me or any other thing that he's going to learn.
16:54Because he's got one of the best guys in the organization
16:57that did this, is that when he blocked shots,
16:59you want to do it with a soft hand, keep the ball in bounds.
17:02Right. Hassan Whiteside was very good at that.
17:05And he even made a comment that earlier in his career, Hassan Whiteside,
17:09earlier in his life, he read some
17:12comments about what Alonzo Mourning was talking about with shot block.
17:15And the best ever was Bill Russell.
17:17You know, he would block the shot and you give your team a chance
17:20to get the possession rather than hit it out of bounds.
17:23And, you know, it looks good to the crowd.
17:26I think he's going to also pick up on that.
17:28So he's going to he's going to have more discretion on what shots to go after.
17:32And he's going to be able to block the shots with a softer hand.
17:34The more he works on it becomes a mentality.
17:37He's got Alonzo Mourning there.
17:39You know, he's got he's got a great staff to teach him that.
17:42So these are all the little nuances that a guy will learn.
17:45And one of the best in the league, I think, at being able to discern
17:49whether to go for a guy or for pick and roll or to roll,
17:52man, is Bam. Bam is excellent at reading the situation.
17:56There are a lot of times throughout his career where Bam,
18:00the pick and roll will happen and the guy will try to throw the ball
18:03for the guy rolling and Bam will fake going at the guy and come back
18:06and steal the ball or knock it away.
18:08That becomes almost an innate thing after a while.
18:11It just becomes second nature.
18:12That's something else he will pick up.
18:14And the more you learn about the big man, I mean, John Sally's
18:18one of the best ever in history, I think, at knowing
18:22the tendencies of the guy he was guarding and and the opponents.
18:26It's kind of like the rebound.
18:27You know, you learn which way the rebound is going to come off
18:31based on the distance of who shot it and where it's going to go.
18:34These are little nuances of things that players pick up
18:37as they become more experienced in the league.
18:40There's always my favorite things with you, Tony, on the broadcast with Hassan.
18:43Whenever you talked about the soft hands and bounds.
18:45So like as the season was going on, Leroy, I would just shout at my television
18:49soft hands because Tony would teach us about the soft hands
18:53and that's not why it's like keeping it in bounds.
18:55Yes, Tony.
18:57I want to ask you with all these young guys and how did he treat young guys
19:02and kind of they'll play for a while and then not play
19:06a lot of these things that we're talking about with like Kalel
19:10and other young guys like don't you have to get like live reps
19:14to kind of go through that?
19:18I mean, it's not something you can really learn.
19:21Practicing a lot, right?
19:23Yeah, it's a good point.
19:24And, you know, as a coach,
19:26you got you got it's a it's a give and take a little bit.
19:29You know, you you're you're in the game, you're in the professional
19:33ranks to win, but you're also there to help develop players.
19:36And you try to do both.
19:38Right. He'd have been very good at doing that.
19:40You know, they've been very good at developing players while they were winning.
19:44OK, and so it's it is a it's a it's a tricky game
19:49that the coach has to play along with his staff
19:52on developing players and winning the game.
19:55And so you try to reach a happy medium with that.
19:59It also happens with guys in the G League.
20:02You know, do you want a guy to go down and play and start
20:05in the G League game for two or three games because, you know,
20:08he's not going to play on on the on a big time level
20:12as opposed to practicing with a good team every day with professionals every day
20:16and then getting some playing time.
20:18So it's a good point. They were.
20:20Tony, if you're in Tino, go check out junior heat camp.
20:22It is going on during spring break, March 24th to the 28th.
20:25You guys can sign up now.
20:27It's going on at Slam Miami High School, ages seven to 17
20:30for the boys and girls out there.
20:31Coach, always a pleasure.
20:32Thank you so much and good luck with the upcoming camp.
20:35Thanks, guys.
20:36We have a lot of fun in camp and we always look forward
20:39to spending the nine nine to three thirty five days a week with the kids.
20:43It's great to see their enthusiasm and it's great to see how much better they get.
20:48And every every day I say to them, who made you bad this morning?
20:53OK, you know, maybe on Monday morning with 100 kids,
20:57maybe 20 kids are raising their hand by the end of the week.
20:59If they're telling the truth, you know, we're trying to get them
21:02to create good habits off the court as well as on.
21:05So it works. We have a lot of fun.
21:07Thank you for helping us promote the camp, guys.
21:09Absolutely. Coach. Absolutely.
21:11Have a great one and enjoy the game tonight. You too. Thanks.