MIAMI — Pelle Larsson has gone through the typical inconsistencies many late draft picks face. Some nights, he would get substantial minutes. Other nights, he would barely see the court — if he played at all.
As recently as March 21, Larsson did not get any playing time. Two days later, he got on the court for the Heat’s win against the Hornets — for all of 19 seconds.
But as Miami has battled for a spot in the postseason, Larsson has emerged as a bigger contributor. He has started the Heat’s past four games, playing at least 23 minutes each night and scoring in the double digits in three of those four games.
“He’s always had the ability to be a plug-and-play role player,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He has the intangibles, the winning stuff that doesn’t necessarily show up in the box score. But then learning the league, learning the nuances of really good offensive players — how they know how to draw fouls, how they know how to get away from coverages. That’s really important. His work ethic has allowed him to improve.
“He’s much different now than the player offensively we got in July, and he’s much different than who he was in November and December. It’s just consistent work every day.”
Larsson, a second-round pick the Heat traded for on draft night, came to the NBA after starting every game at Arizona in his final college season. Adjusting to the limited playing time while trying to learn how to be a contributing NBA player meant his development came in fits and starts. Larsson scored 13 points in his third NBA game when he played 25 minutes in a loss to the Kings in November, and he notched 14 points in 36 minutes in a win over Dallas later that month. But he did not play over 20 minutes for another month, and he did not have a double-digit scoring game again until late January.
“It’s hard because you feel like you’re making progress and then you might not play for a little bit and the progress kind of starts over a little bit,” Larsson said. “But just stay engaged with what the team is doing, buy into what everyone else is doing. … Have your mind activated. So everything like that just prepares you.”
But Larsson kept working in practice, steadily improving in his limited time.
“I think just kind of re-learning the game a little bit to fit the NBA instead of college,” Larsson said. “I worked on my shot definitely a lot, trying to make everything more efficient and use my body more on my drives, get to the free-throw line.”
Now Larsson is getting a chance to play more. He is averaging 12 points, 4.8 rebounds, four assists and 2.5 steals since Spoelstra inserted him in the starting lineup. Even after scoring just three points in a loss to Memphis on Thursday, he is shooting 47 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range.
“It’s all about getting your opportunity and getting your chances and just going out there and playing hard,” fellow Heat rookie Kel’el Ware said. “That’s what Pelle does. I’m happy to see my dog out there. I’m happy for him.”
Even though his average minutes played has sharply increased, Larsson said he has not needed additional recovery time or rest. He feels more dynamic now that he is playing more.
“I actually have more energy now that I’m playing more minutes than when I wasn’t,” Larsson said. “You kind of get stuck going ...
