Heat first-round pick Kel’el Ware dominates, other observations from summer league win over Kings

The Miami Heat continued summer league action with a 102-86 win over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday at Chase Center in the second of its three-game run at the California Classic. Here are some observations from the Heat’s victory over the Kings in San Francisco:

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▪ The Heat opened Sunday’s contest with a lineup of guards Isaiah Stevens and Pelle Larsson, forwards Cole Swider and Keshad Johnson, and center Kel’el Ware.

There was only one change in the starting combination from Saturday’s summer league opener, which the Heat lost 105-66 to the Golden State Warriors. Stevens started in place of Alondes Williams on Sunday.

Williams struggled in the Heat’s first summer league game of the year, finishing Saturday’s defeat with just two points on 0-of-9 shooting from the field and 0-of-3 shooting on threes in 17 minutes while being used as a starter.

But Williams played off the bench on Sunday, finishing the win with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field, four rebounds and five assists.

Williams, 25, is a restricted free agent after closing last season on a two-way contract with the Heat. He’s hoping to do enough in summer league to earn the first standard NBA contract of his career, whether it’s with Miami or another team.

▪ Ware, who was taken by the Heat with the 15th overall pick in the first round of this year’s draft, was dominant on Sunday. He totaled a game-high 26 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the field to go with 11 rebounds, three assists and one block in the win.

“He did a phenomenal job creating actions rolling to the rim, sealing,” Heat player development coach and summer league head coach Dan Bisaccio said of Ware. “He did a great job with his touch around the rim. And then again, rebounding. Offensive rebounding, obviously, but also just eating up the glass on the defensive end any chance he can.”

After shooting 0 of 3 from three-point range in Saturday’s summer opener, the 20-year-old Ware shot 0 of 2 from deep on Sunday.

But the 7-footer threw down alley-oop dunks, rolled hard to the rim and showed off impressive footwork in the post in Sunday’s victory. He scored 22 of his 26 points in the paint.

“Right now, my shot is feeling a little short,” Ware said. “So I wanted to get to the basket more and just be more of a target in my presence, be more in the paint today. I felt like I did that a little bit.”

This comes one day after Ware scored 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field and 0-of-3 shooting on threes, grabbed six rebounds and blocked five shots in his first summer league game on Saturday.

“It was just having to get the jitters out,” Ware said. “Today, I definitely started to find that groove more and more as the game was going on.”

▪ After finishing the Heat’s summer league opener as the team’s leading scorer, Swider closed Sunday’s win with 21 points on 5-of-10 shooting from three-point range.

Swider scored 18 of his 21 points in the first half, shooting 6 of 8 on threes and 4 of 6 from the foul line in the first two quarters.

Like Williams, Swider is a restricted free agent looking to earn the first standard NBA contract of his career after finishing last season on a two-way deal with the Heat. With Miami currently carrying 13 players on standard contracts for next season and needing to fill at least one of the two open spots on its 15-man roster, Swider hopes to impress enough this summer to earn the promotion.

In Swider’s first season with the Heat last season, he logged a total of just 87 minutes in the NBA while on a two-way contract.

But Swider established himself as one of the G League’s top three-point shooters, shooting 47.1 percent on 10 three-point attempts per game last season with the Heat’s G League affiliate. Among the 10 players in the G League who finished last season averaging 10 or more three-point attempts per game, Swider finished with the top three-point percentage.

Through the Heat’s first two summer league games this year, Swider has shot an ultra-efficient 10 of 14 (71.4 percent) from behind the arc.

▪ Larsson, who the Heat selected out of Arizona with the 44th overall pick in the second round of this year’s draft, recorded nine points, five rebounds, six assists and two steals on Sunday.

Larsson started strong, opening the scoring for the Heat on a pull-up above-the-break three before intercepting a lob pass on the defensive end on the next possession. He quickly took that steal for a transition layup to score the Heat’s first five points of the game.

▪ Johnson, who went undrafted out of Arizona this year, is currently one of the three players who the Heat has signed to a two-way contract.

The 6-foot-6 three-and-D forward contributed 13 points, three rebounds, one assist and one steal for the Heat on Sunday. He shot 3 of 4 on threes.

▪ Zyon Pullin’s point guard skills were on display in the first half, dishing out three assists without committing a turnover in the first two quarters. He also made all three of his shots to score six points in the win .

Pullin, 23, is one of the three players who the Heat currently has signed to a two-way contract. The Heat signed Pullin to a two-way deal shortly after he went undrafted last month out of Florida.

Pullin’s play-making ability is one of his strengths. He posted an impressive 3.77-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio as a graduate student at Florida last season, which is a school record and the best by any Southeastern Conference player since at least 2000.

▪ Stevens, who the Heat signed to an Exhibit 10 contract on Saturday, also showed off his point guard skills. He totaled 10 points, two rebounds, seven assists and two steals in a starting role on Sunday.

Stevens, a 6-foot guard, went undrafted this year out of Colorado State.

▪ After shooting just 28.9 percent from the field and 8 of 31 (25.8 percent) on threes in Saturday’s 39-point loss to begin summer league, the Heat bounced back to shoot 56.9 percent from the field and 11 of 22 (50 percent) on threes in Sunday’s 16-point summer league win.

▪ The Heat’s summer league team now gets two days to rest and practice before closing its three-game run at the California Classic on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Lakers (7 p.m., ESPN2). The Heat is 1-1 at this year’s California Classic.

After Wednesday’s matchup against the Lakers’ summer team, the Heat moves to play at least five games in Las Vegas Summer League.