Gerald Green apologized profusely on Saturday for the Nov. 4 incident at his Miami condo, thanked the Miami Heat for having his back, and returned to the court alongside his teammates.
What happens next with Green appears to be up to coach Erik Spoelstra.
A prolific scorer off the bench who had a stellar preseason and figured to see heavy minutes, Green might find it harder than he thinks to slip back into the role he had before he missed the Heat's last six games.
Miami has found a winning combination with Tyler Johnson, Justise Winslow and the rest of its second unit, and unless Green comes in and plays defense the way Spoelstra wants he might find himself riding the bench more than he initially thought he would.
"This happens in the league,” Spoelstra said when asked Saturday how he will figure out how to put the pieces of his second unit together to include Green. “Gerald was an integral part of what we’re trying to do. We’ll work him back in at a healthy rate. Whether that will be on Tuesday, I don’t know right now. There’s still a couple more days of practice. He’s getting back into the mix.
"We like the commitment to the defensive foundation we’re trying to build right now. You get challenged every single night in this league by super dynamic offenses and really talented players. There’s no easy way to it. You have to have days like today where you grind, you push each other, build the trust defensively and compete. There’s just no short cut to it. On a tough night you still can get lit up.”
According to Spoelstra, the Heat had one of its most intense in-season practices yet. With the team off for four days until it hosts the Timberwolves on Tuesday, Spoelstra wanted to take advantage to get some physical work in.
Center Hassan Whiteside said Green, an athletic wing, looked good physically. He said Green was knocking down shots, dunking and playing with a lot of energy. Green said he was "pretty healthy now" and said he worked out a little bit during his time away from the team.
"I don't feel like he took any steps back," Whiteside said. "I feel like he's going to just come back in and continue to contribute to us winning."
Chris Bosh agreed.
"Super easy," Bosh responded when asked how hard it will be to integrate Green into the second unit.
"I think what he brings is just dynamic for us with his explosiveness in the open court, his ability to shoot the three. And within him being aggressive he's an unselfish player as well," Bosh said. "He's just one of those guys that can have 30 points in 20 minutes and we need that. We need all we can get, especially working on what we're working towards, just day after day. Having a piece back is awesome."
> The terrorism attack in Paris was on the mind of Bosh Saturday.
"It's just sad to see humans doing stuff like that," he said. "I'm a true believer in karma. You never want to see a situation going like that, and my heart goes out to everybody that was affected by that. We wanted to show prayers, compassion, through a tough time like that. But the guys who are doing it man, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It's such a really tough tragic thing to go through as a country and how we're affected by something like that. People were just hanging out on a Friday night, going to see a soccer match, going on date, it's Paris. It's a beautiful see and to have something like it's very, very unfortunate."
> Whiteside said he's been getting a lot of help from Heat fans in playing the new Call of Duty video game. He's been seeking advice lately on how to kill zombies.
"I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with the zombies. But I'm getting better at it," Whiteside said Saturday. "I can't put that much time in it. But probably an hour or two throughout the day. I play against other Heat fans and just anybody who sends me a friend request. A lot of times they don't even believe it's me. It's pretty fun."
> With the Heat minus Green and Dwyane Wade on Thursday, newly acquired veteran guard Beno Udrih was thrown right into the fire in Miami's 92-91 win over the Jazz. He played 17 minutes, scored two points, grabbed three boards and dished out one assist.
"Sometimes some guys can't go and you've got to be ready," Udrih said. "I was just trying to go out there and do the best I could. I was focusing more on defense than I did on offense. I like the system here, especially on offense. It's about reading and playing together. It felt pretty comfortable out there. With a couple practices now under my belt I'm going to go out there with even more confidence. I could be even better."
Johnson said Udrih was quick to pick up the Heat's defense.
"He's a veteran guy so he picks up things really easily," he said. "We threw him out there in the game and it looked like he had been out there for a little while. Defensively he understood the concepts. He came from a good defensive team in Memphis. He already understands a lot of the concepts. So really it's just getting acclimated, building relationships with guys on the team."
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