Of all of the attainable permutations, it appeared extremely unlikely that Erik Spoelstra’s wheel of lineups would cease on a mix that had 19-year-old neophyte Nikola Jovic taking part in at any level alongside Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and Tyler Herro.
Yet there, in Wednesday night time’s preseason finale in opposition to the New Orleans Pelicans, stood the No. 27 decide in final June’s NBA draft, and the child out of Serbia appeared all proper.
“Man, the thing I like about young fella, he’s a hooper,” Adebayo mentioned, with the Heat now idle till Wednesday night time’s season opener in opposition to the Chicago Bulls at FTX Arena. “He’s a type of guys, he figures it out as he goes. And that’s the factor I’ve realized about him up to now. Like throwing him within the first unit, he appeared like he was snug with us.
“He knows exactly where to go, figuring it out in the flow, keeping the spacing. He’s not running around mindless. The kid can hoop.”
No, not going one thing Spoelstra is predicted to characteristic in his major rotations. But Wednesday night time confirmed the potential for the lithe 6-foot-11 massive man as a change of tempo.
“He plays basketball the right way,” Butler mentioned. “He can shoot it and he can actually move it. I feel that the extra that he performs, the extra snug he’s going to be on the market, whether or not or not it’s with the starters, whether or not or not it’s with a number of the function gamers.
“I think that the more reps he gets in games against so many different types of competition, the better he’s going to become.”
Jovic’s minutes got here earlier than foul bother acquired in the way in which and Caleb Martin returned to work with the starters.
While non-committal, it seems that Spoelstra will go together with the primary unit that opened Wednesday night time’s 120-103 victory: Adebayo, Martin, Butler, Herro, Lowry.
Adebayo mentioned he already is impressed with the chances on offense.
“I felt like that was some great basketball we played as that first unit,” he mentioned. “We definitely shared the ball. I felt like 15 assists in the first unit, I felt like that was great basketball from all of us, sharing the ball, guys finding each other. It looked beautiful to me, definitely felt comfortable for all of us.”
Butler cautioned that it additionally must be a two-way lineup.
“I think we did alright,” he mentioned. “We shared the ball, made some shots. It looks good. We probably could do a little bit better on the defensive end. But when we’re scoring like that, that’s what we tend to do, try to outscore people.”
While the brand new lineup thrived at tempo on Wednesday night time, Spoelstra provided perspective.
“I think it’s also probably a point of emphasis for every team in the league at this time of the year,” he mentioned. “And then, can you sustain it? But our speed, our quickness, our versatility, those are some of our strengths offensively. We’re going to, quite naturally, try to maximize that.”
Taking notice
Adebayo’s 12 free-throw makes an attempt Wednesday would have tied his second-highest complete for the common season, two off his profession excessive.
So, sure, he mentioned attending to the road is a precedence, along with his complete in opposition to the Pelicans achieved in solely 25 minutes.
“I mean, they’re free,” he mentioned. “So getting to the line is the goal, just trying to do it in many different ways. Just obviously learning from Jimmy, who’s one of the best at getting fouled, kind of trickles down the rest of us.”
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com