SHOP
Moe Harkless and Avery Bradley may be new to the HEAT, but they certainly know all about the culture.
A day after signing with Miami, both Harkless and Bradley spoke to the media on Tuesday afternoon via Zoom about that and a whole lot more.
Right off the bat, Harkless, an eight-year vet out of St. John’s, mentioned that the HEAT seemed like the perfect place for him.
“I felt like Miami was the best fit, just when you think about everything…when you look at the culture, you look at the way we play, you look at the guys on the team…the approach to the game, how serious everyone takes the game, how hard everyone works, how they play together, I think it kind of embodies everything that I’m about when it comes to this game,” he said.
“[The HEAT are] a team that I’ve always admired and looked at. I started my career in Orlando, so I got to see Miami up close in the beginning. And it’s always been a team that I admired. I admire what they’re about. I admire Coach [Pat] Riley and Coach [Erik Spoelstra].”
With Harkless being a player that competes on both ends, Riley and Spo likely feel the same way. In addition to being a solid defender who can guard multiple positions (Harkless has held his defensive assignments to 43 percent shooting over the past seven seasons), the 27-year-old forward has also scored 1.32 points per possession as a cutter since the 2015-16 campaign.
And of course, Miami and Phoenix paced the league in cuts a year ago.
“I watched some of their early offense, they like to cut a lot, face cut, back cut,” Harkless said. “These are all things that just happen in the flow of the game that I’ll be able to just be plugged right in and be able to contribute to and do.”
While Harkless mentioned that he really wanted to play with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo because “they leave everything out there on the floor”, he also said that he’s excited to play next to and learn from fellow newcomer, Bradley.
Bradley, a 10-year-vet who has earned all-defensive honors twice and been in the Eastern Conference Finals before, echoed Harkless’ sentiments about the HEAT being a perfect fit for him.
“We all know what it means to be a Miami HEAT player, the passion and the dedication it takes to be a part of this culture,” Bradley said. “And I just feel like I always felt like if I ever got an opportunity to play here, I would fit in perfectly…and it’s here now, and I’m going to make sure I take advantage of it.”
Like Harkless, the soon-to-be 30-year-old Bradley is a two-way player, shooting 36.4 percent from three and tallying a 104.0 defensive rating last season. Because of that, the combo guard knows he can make a seamless transition to the HEAT.
“I felt like I could fit in right away to what their goal is, as far as being a defensive team, a team that can get out and run, a team that plays off the dribble handoffs and a team that plays off of their star players,” Bradley said. “I feel like these past few years, I’ve been in situations like that and been able to be successful, so coming here, it will be something that I can pick up right away. And I’m just happy to be here.”
Perhaps this situation can help Bradley accomplish his goal of being on the defensive team once again. Who better to oversee that than Coach Spo?
“I think [Erik Spoelstra is] absolutely special. [He’s] one of the coaches that I always admired throughout these years, just simply because the mixture of their culture and his style of coaching, I think, is extremely unique,” Bradley said. “He gets the most out of every single player on the court. I feel like the players get better throughout the year, which I think that’s a great talent to have as a coach…I’m so happy I get an opportunity now to finally play for him.”