Nikola Jovic had the Miami Heat locker room abuzz after Thursday night time’s 109-80 exhibition victory over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center, and for greater than the first-round select of Serbia closing with 10 rebounds and 5 assists.
Instead, it was the response to what coach Erik Spoelstra had revealed moments earlier in regards to the expert 6-foot-10 19-year-old.
“He’s extremely unique,” Spoelstra mentioned, earlier than turning his consideration to Friday night time’s exhibition towards the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. “And he’s so young. To put it in perspective, he’s still waiting to do his final exam to graduate from high school, and doing that over Zoom.”
Wait? What?
That primarily was the response from teammates, as soon as Spoelstra’s revelation circulated.
Backup heart Dewayne Dedmon was bowled over, with the 33-year-old large man incredulous a few teammate younger sufficient to have but to finish highschool.
Jovic: “I was supposed to finish it this summer.”
Dedmon: “Supposed to?”
Jovic: “I’m finishing.”
Dedmon: “So you not even graduated high school?”
Jovic: “I’m finishing it right now.”
Dedmon: “And you in the NBA?”
Jovic: “Yeah.”
Dedmon: “You know you can’t go from high school to the pros?”
Jovic: “You can do it from Europe.”
Dedmon: “Apparently.”
With that, head shaking, Dedmon headed for the crew bus, leaving his Serbian teammate to elucidate.
“They were doing it when I was doing the draft workouts,” he mentioned of his high-school finals whereas he was working in Miami forward of the June draft, “so I didn’t have time, especially because of the time difference.”
There will, Jovic mentioned, be a diploma.
“It’s not that hard,” he mentioned of his lone remaining check. “I need to take it. I don’t have time to take it right now.”
But he has cause to ensure it’s accomplished sooner fairly than later.
“My mom,” he mentioned, “she wants me to finish school.”
While the NBA draft rule is written with highschool in thoughts, it truly requires a participant to be at the least 19 in his draft yr. Jovic was born June 9, 2003.
“As soon as I get some time, I’ll do it,” he mentioned, having been in Miami since August getting ready for his inaugural NBA season after taking part in professionally in Europe, “as soon as I get in contact with my teachers and stuff. Like I said, the time difference.”
And there shall be extra.
“I”m actually glad I’m ending it now,” he mentioned. “I’m looking forward to doing something else after this, some college or something.”
All of which made his feedback about his first NBA street recreation all of the extra fascinating.
“In high school, I used to go home and watch some of those guys on TV or on YouTube,” he mentioned, “and to play against them is different.”
As on this yr in highschool.
To Spoelstra, it’s a entire new world with the lithe 205-pound No. 27 decide.
“We’ve had a lot of different developmental projects over the years,” he mentioned. “He’s somewhat little bit of a novel one. We haven’t had a European so younger. But his ability set is exclusive. Because of his dimension, he’s actually simply beginning his weight lifting program with us for the final six weeks. So we received’t even see the good thing about that till subsequent summer time.
“But his ability to handle, to shoot, to put the ball on the floor, he’s a really good passer. That’s probably, at this point, his best skill. And he’s developing all the rest of it.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com