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As for the Heat’s summer league team, it closed the California Classic with a 2-1 record and Las Vegas Summer League with a 3-2 record. “We had a really good group of guys, competitive, coachable, willing to learn, willing to grow, willing to work on their professionalism, so I appreciate them for that,” Heat assistant coach and summer league head coach Wayne Ellington said. “Obviously we would have liked to win more games, but that’s not all summer league is about. I like to walk away from this feeling like most of these guys got better and they learned a lot of things.”
Heat Central: Heat assistant coach Wayne Ellington says the Bam and Tyler Herro altercation was overblown, per @DGreen_14 “I got a chance to sit down with Wayne… He said he had spoke to him (Bam). He said they hyped it up more to what it was. Sometimes you got to check your little brother, that’s it. He said he spoke to Bam and it wasn’t that crazy.”
It also just so happens that the Heat opens Las Vegas Summer League against the Bucks on Friday (4 p.m., WPLG Local 10 and Prime Video) at Thomas & Mack Center on UNLV’s campus, and Jakucionis was added to the Bucks’ summer league roster for Las Vegas after spending time with the Lithuanian national team last week. “It’s going to be competitive,” Heat assistant coach and summer league head coach Wayne Ellington said with a smile on Wednesday regarding a potential matchup against Jakucionis. “Yeah, we still love him. He was great for us in terms of being as coachable as he is and willing to work. But this is the NBA. So we’ll see him on the other side, and we’re going to compete.”
Barry Jackson: Heat summer league coach Wayne Ellington told us in the postgame briefing just now that Conwell's most NBA ready skill is his shooting: "He's got a natural shooting ability and that's something you can't teach." He said Conwell handled better than he expected. 21 points & several nice passes tonight, as he played both on and off the ball.
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Ellington, 38, will lead the Heat’s summer league coaching staff when Miami begins the summer circuit at the four-team California Classic on July 3 in San Francisco. Ellington and the Heat’s summer squad will then join the rest of the NBA at Las Vegas Summer League, which will run from July 9-19. “This is the next step in my journey, and I’m super excited for it,” Ellington said Friday during a teleconference with a few South Florida reporters. “I’m super appreciative of the opportunity and the confidence that Spo and the front office has in me, allowing me to do this this summer. So I’m looking forward to it.”
Whatever happens this summer, Ellington hopes it’s just the next step of a long coaching career. His goal is to become an NBA head coach one day. “Obviously, my next step is to be a bench coach. And then, yeah, I do have the ambition to be a head coach one day,” Ellington said. “I’m still growing and still learning, obviously. But that is my goal in the end.”
Ira Winderman: In addition to announcing assistant coach Eric Glass as their summer-league coach, Heat listing Wayne Ellington, Dan Bisaccio and Remy Ndiaye as Glass' summer assistants. Bisaccio coached summer Heat to last year's Vegas title.
“I don’t really look at it for myself, necessarily, like: ‘Hey, this is great as a head coach, we need to make that,’” Bisaccio said of the possibility of coaching the Heat to its first Las Vegas Summer League title. “There are so many people that are involved in this process. Our front office has done such a great job of putting this team together. Not only are they good players on the court, competitive players, but they’re great people. They work together, they work hard. “And then our staff, I’ve been truly spoiled with our staff that’s made up of those from the Heat and also [the Sioux Falls Skyforce]. I credit [coaches] Kasib Powell, Wayne Ellington, for really keeping me sane at times and really bringing the energy and their willingness to be selfless and help out in every way is great. And then our coaches that aren’t even here, Chris Quinn, Eric Glass, Malik Allen, obviously [Erik Spoelstra], these guys are in my ear constantly about things that are like, ‘Hey, this is great, I love what you’re doing.’ A very big support group we have, and that’s something I’m truly appreciative of.”
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Love made an immediate impact, scoring 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field, 3-of-3 shooting on threes and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line while playing the final 5:45 of the first quarter. Love’s 15 first-quarter points off the bench were the most by a Heat reserve since Wayne Ellington had 15 points in the first quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 13, 2017, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. Also, Love tied Cam Thomas for the most points by any reserve in a first quarter this season.
Then came a meeting with coach Erik Spoelstra, Ellington’s coach during his 2 1/2 seasons with the Heat. "We just had some clear, crystal-clear conversations,” Ellington says. “Obviously, Spo and I had always been connected and never really lost that connection. So it just made more sense for me, after those conversations that we had, to take this route.”
Anthony Chiang: The Heat has hired a familiar face, Wayne Ellington, to join Erik Spoelstra’s coaching staff as a player development coach. Ellington fills the void left by Anthony Carter, who left to join the Grizzlies’ coaching staff. The Man with the Golden Arm!