Hawks vs Heat: Erik Spoelstra to be mindful of starters minutes

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra met with the media following Monday's shootaround and indicated that he would be mindful of his regulars minutes. He stopped short of declaring an actual plan for the evening but it sounds like LeBron and company won't be getting too lathered up in the preseason opener.

"I don't know how many guys I'll play tonight," he admitted. "I'll play some of our regulars enough to get a feel for it but not long minutes and I'll try to take a look at as many guys as possible but I'll probably have to make changes."

"It'll be more about managing minutes tonight rather than trying to see different rotations," he explained. "And we'll get into that as we go - we have a couple of back-to-backs - that will allow us to do a little bIt more of that. Tonight, I want to get some of our regulars at least some rotation minutes for them to blow it out. Then I'll just try to take a look at some of the guys we want to take a look at, but I won't be able to do all those guys tonight. To be fair, we'll have to split it up some so the guys have enough minutes to show what they can do."

As two-time defending champions there were few changes made during the offseason for the Heat. The Hawks on the other hand will take the floor with a new coach and a brand new system. Like the Heat, the Hawks will also have their fair share of evaluation to do as players like James Johnson, Damien Wilkins and Royal Ivey attempt to make the roster. In addition rookies Dennis Schröder and Pero Antic will be playing in their first NBA games.