Victor Oladipo’s Heat time had come, then it was gone (unsure of what comes next)
Victor Oladipo could have retreated to the locker room and it would have been understood. Assuredly, he had to know the questions that were coming after being benched in two of the previous three games.
Instead, he waited patiently by a training table, still glistening from post-practice sweat, while coach Erik Spoelstra offered comments in advance of Wednesday night’s game against the New York Knicks at Miami-Dade Arena.
For Oladipo. patience not only has been a virtue these past several injury-racked seasons but practically a necessity.
It is again.
“I just didn’t know,” Oladipo said of lack of advance notice when he was held out of last week’s victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, the first time he was listed as “Did Not Play – Coach’s Decision” this season. “So I was just sitting there and sat there and supported my team. I think after a while I could tell I wasn’t going in. And can’t really control that. Just got to control that moment in time and just doing what you can to help the team.
“At that moment, all I could do was just motivate the guys and continue to talk to them.”
Three days later, with Kyle Lowry given the night off in Chicago to help manage his knee pain, Oladipo was back in the mix.
Then, the following night in Detroit, Lowry was back in and Oladipo back out.
In any other line of work, it would be into the boss’ office for clarification.
But this isn’t any other line of work. It is a business where employees often are well compensated (in Oladipo’s case $8.8 million this season) to not work.
Similarly, Oladipo said there was no advance notice on Saturday that he would be back in the mix.
“No.” he said. “Just got to be ready.”
Last season, there was a similar pattern.
There also was a delayed start to the season, in that case the season debut not coming until February, after months of knee recovery. This season, the debut was not until early December, following knee tendinosis.
Last year, there also was uncertainty over the final week of the regular season, held out of five of the final seven games due to DNP-CD.
Now wiser from previous experiences, Oladipo, 30, knows each season is its own journey.
“Just because last year happened the way it did, this year’s a whole different year,” he said. “You understand. So regardless of what happens or what doesn’t, I just got to continue to keep improving, keep getting better, focus on improving. And if and when my name is called, just be ready to play.”
The most likely opportunities for extended minutes could come in the Heat’s two remaining back-to-back sets, including one next week in Toronto and then New York.
But, like Oladipo, Spoelstra said to make no assumptions amid this desperate playoff-race scramble ahead of the April 9 regular-season finale.
“Right now, we’re day to day,” Spoelstra said of the rotation in general. “I can’t even answer that. It’s by any means necessary. You know, I’ve had to make a couple of tweaks in the last week because we have our full health, basically, other than Cody [Zeller, out with a broken nose].
“These are good, high-class challenges to have. We need all hands on deck. These games are so competitive. [Haywood] Highsmith is a perfect example, has been able to give us plug minutes for three minutes at a time, that were a little bit unusual, but maybe not on the card. But that’s what we’ve got to do right now to win games.”
Which is why Oladipo said he has stayed in his lane, no requests for clarification.
“Really nothing,” he said. “I haven’t really talked about it much. So I just stay ready. That’s really pretty much it.”
He then smiled an is-what-it-is smile.
“Just got to be ready,” he said.
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