3 Essential areas of improvement for Nikola Jovic
By Wes Goldberg
Defense
Jovic’s improvement on the defensive end last season was nothing short of remarkable. While his offensive skillset was never questioned, Jovic struggled to get on the court because he failed to make a defensive impact.
That changed dramatically as the season went on, and eventually, Jovic emerged as Miami’s starting power forward. His attentiveness and positioning stood out. Here’s a breakdown of Jovic’s defense in Miami’s playoff series against the Boston Celtics by our own John Jablonka:
Nikola Jovic continues to show his improvement on defense in the playoffs
— John Jablonka (@JohnJablonka_) April 28, 2024
So many times where he just does the right thing, makes the right rotation, helps early, is active doing something, has defended in isolation well too pic.twitter.com/QHsGylyl3Z
There’s still a lot of room for improvement. Opponents still shot higher than their season average when defended by Jovic and only Kevin Love averaged more fouls per 36 minutes among Miami’s rotation players.
According to BBall Index, Jovic graded out with an F in perimeter isolation defense and rim protection.
This goes hand-in-hand with the point on physicality. There have been flashes, but Jovic’s one-on-one defense needs to get a lot better.
Ranking Jovic and every other Heat player into 5 trade value tiers. dark. Next. Next