As the Miami Heat continue to go about the business of their offseason, they are focusing on multiple fronts at one time. While the pursuit of Kevin Durant and others if they aren’t so fortunate enough to land KD is one thing, they also have to continue to go about the business of finding and developing their young talent.
Finding talent is something they do well. When it comes to finding guys that no one sees value in or has undervalued, there is no better organization out there than the Miami Heat.
On the other side and when it comes to a guy or guys that other teams and people did see the value in, the Miami Heat are among the teams that will absolutely get the most out of him. That should be the case with their most recent draftee, a guy that many had as a top talent in this past NBA Draft, Nikola Jovic.
Through several summer league games thus far, both in the California Classic and NBA 2K23 portions, you’ve noticed something specific about the Serbian teenager.
The Miami Heat excel at getting the absolute most out of any player they acquire. They will certainly look to do the same with their latest draft pick, Nikola Jovic.
He has started his pro career off a bit passive.
When you look at his play from game to game or from sequence to sequence inside of one particular game, that’s the thing that most sticks out to you. He has shown, in certain spurts, what he is capable of when he has it all going.
Like one of his newest teammates in Bam Adebayo, he just has to want to show you that all the time. Take for example his most recent summer league game on Saturday, the Heat’s first of the Vegas portion, Jovic only attempted two free throws in the contest.
Now, he only played about 14 minutes, but he should have had more attempts at his offense in those 14 minutes. You don’t know if he tweaked something, if that was the plan all along, or if his play dictated his time on the floor, but you need him looking to be more aggressive when he is out there.
He is still young and fresh into the NBA Game. He has played less than five contests with other NBA-level talent and competition so you take all that into account here.
He has a ton of time and nothing but room to grow, however, that’s the thing that jumps out at you early on. For Jovic, his and his coaching staff’s focus right now should be making sure he looks to stay consistently aggressive.