Giannis Antetokounmpo hasn't played a minute for the Miami Heat yet, but he's already trying to instill confidence in his teammates. And during a behind-the-scenes look at his first day as a member of the Heat, Giannis made a pretty strong endorsement for Jovic, a player that most fans had already written off.
While taking a tour of the Heat facility, Giannis came across Jovic and gave him some compliments before they went their separate ways. In short, Giannis spoke in a way that he believed Jovic would be playing a contributing role for the Heat this season.
Which, in and of itself, is interesting because of how shaky a ground Jovic currently finds himself on with the fan base.
“You were playing good. Translates very well to the NBA. The first couple of weeks, months into the season, the space will be so much open, and the decisions will be way easier for you. I’m excited bro”
Nikola Jovic has some rebuilding to do with the Heat
Despite these strong comments from Giannis, there's no question that Jovic has some rebuilding to do with the Heat. And, honestly, it's not just with the fans. Sure, the fans are clearly down on Jovic, but he has some winning back to do across the board.
Especially considering that toward the end of the season, Jovic had completely fallen out of Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra's rotation. Jovic did deal with unfortunate injuries this past season, but he had a pretty tragic season all around.
Flipping the narrative, even with this new chapter with Giannis, could prove to be a difficult task for Jovic. However, in a way, Giannis is right. He's gotten off on the right foot this summer by playing for Team Serbia overseas, but it can't stop there.
How Nikola Jovic can flip the narrative this season
Jovic, unlike he was able to do last season, needs to find a way to translate his success with Team Serbia to the Heat. Not only would that benefit Jovic and the narrative surrounding him, but a big bounce-back year from the versatile forward could also be a way the Heat unlocks their first-year ceiling of the Giannis build.
Jovic has a skill set that would seemingly fit next to Giannis and Bam Adebayo, especially considering the lack of playmaking that the Heat have on paper. But, again, whether Jovic can be that player remains to be seen.
The Heat have seen it in spurts, and that's part of the reason why they gave him an early contract extension (which is part of the gripe against him), but he hasn't been able to do it on a consistent basis.
Heading into this next season, though, it appears Giannis is giving Jovic a clean slate. At this point, why shouldn't Heat fans? After all, especially with a dried-up free-agent market, there may not be a better option than to give Jovic another shot.
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