The Miami Heat has seen both the good and bad from Nikola Jovic to start the season, but he continues to get love as a player who is primed for a breakout year. And if one former front office executive is proven right, Jovic will end up being one of the few young players who will truly hit his stride this season.
According to John Hollinger, Jovic was listed as one of his 10 breakout players from this season. In the same conversation as Bennedict Mathurin, Matas Buzelis, and others, Jovic finds himself in great company.
Jovic will have to prove it, though, and his performance has been pretty up and down to start the year for the Heat.
Considering his consistency (and availability) has always been an issue, it's certainly something to keep monitoring as we get deeper into the season. Through three games, Jovic is averaging 12 points, five rebounds, and three assists per game on 46 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent shooting from 3-point range.
However, he's had only one game truly worthy to be labeled as a "breakout" performance. That came against the Memphis Grizzlies, in which Jovic finished with 20 points, six rebounds, and four assists. But if you remove that game, Jovic is only averaging seven points and four rebounds on 31 percent shooting from the field.
Nikola Jovic should feast against second units
There's no question that if Jovic is going to live up to the expectations of a breakout player this year, he needs to be more consistent. Add in the fact that Jovic is likely going to play the bulk of his minutes (coming off the bench) against opposing teams' second units, and there isn't much of an excuse for him.
After starting on opening night, there's an expectation that Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is going to stick with the starting frontcourt duo of Bam Adebayo and Kel'el Ware moving forward.
That means Jovic is likely going to remain in his role of coming off the bench for the foreseeable future. In such a role, Jovic should be feasting. He has the green light as soon as he enters the game, and should be relied on heavily as one of the team's most talented players on the second unit.
The Heat have gotten off to a somewhat surprisingly good start to the year, but if Jovic is able to put together the breakout year that many are predicting, this already altered ceiling for the Heat is only naturally going to rise even higher.