SURVIVE: Miami Heat Scramble as Bam Adebayo OUT, Who Will STEP UP in Key NBA STRETCH?

SURVIVE: Miami Heat Scramble as Bam Adebayo OUT, Who Will STEP UP in Key NBA STRETCH?

With Bameio expected to miss some time due to injury, who steps up in his absence? Could be Vlad Golden stepping up from the G-League. You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app, thanks for making Locked on Heat your first listen every day. Join the Cookie Gang. Become an in everyday by hitting that subscribe button. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fanduel.com to get started. I’m Wes Goldberg, host of Locked on NBA Daily and Real Jam Radio. I’m here with David Rill. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day. Jam-packed show for you today. We’re going to talk about what we want to see more of from Kel Wear and Nicola Yoich. Plus, look ahead to Miami’s first game of the NBA Cup. We have news on Bam Adabio’s injury that we’re going to about that we’re about to get to here in a second. But first and foremost, David, just got to start right off the bat. Uh, all well wishes to Eric Spolstro. Just terrible news on Thursday morning. His house in Miami burnt down after the team got back from Miami uh from Denver. Uh, fortunately, nobody was injured. Uh but according to the reports and the pictures, there’s just nothing left of his home. So uh again, just really unfortunate. Our thoughts are with Spo and his family right now. Um he will be coaching tonight against Charlotte because he’s an insane person and the only thing he knows what to do is is to coach through B just to kind of coach through life. But um yeah, you you just hope the best for him and his family right now. Yeah, it’s uh it’s so tough. Like you think of it from a parents perspective and you think of all the the memories. Yeah. Little things that you accumulate over the years that can never be replaced, you know, pictures and stuff like that. Like, you know, who knows if you’ll ever be able to duplicate those and if not, they’re gone forever. And so, you try to find a way to move on. So, absolutely best wishes to Spo and his family and hopefully he can uh sink himself fully into coaching because we know he will, but it’s still a tough loss. Yeah, I mean he’s been living there for a very long time, too, at that at that specific home. And so, um, it’s, um, yeah, it’s a really tough thing. Um, but Eric Spol should be the first one to tell you, nobody feels bad for you. All these other spoisms, like, you know, we obviously feel for him, but like life goes on and basketball has to be played. And the Heat got some things to do. And Spo said, “Hey, I’m going to be back on the sidelines Friday night.” So, let’s get to some of the basketball news here. Bam. out of bio had his MRI on Thursday. We waited to record this a little bit more because of scheduling, but also because we wanted to wait on the BAM out of Bio MRI results. Good news considering the feeling of concern in that locker room after Thursday night’s game in Denver after Bam left that game early with that foot injury. I think there was a lot of people fearing, not the worst necessarily, but fearing a potential extended absence from BAM. MRI came back negative. It’s a big toe injury and he’s going to be out tonight against Charlotte, but then listed dayto-day. So, he’s out tonight against Charlotte. Miami does have the second night of a backto-back on Saturday. So, quick turnaround against Portland at home. So, he could miss two games here. He’s definitely going to miss one. He could miss more time. We just don’t really know. But it’s not going to be what I didn’t want to see was Miami Heat announced that bam out of bio will be re-evaluated in four weeks and we didn’t get any kind of news like that David which is good right yeah absolutely uh discouraging at first but not as bad as it could have been and uh you don’t want to have injuries like this for a season where you we talked about this in the loss to Denver the recap of that game and we saw how essential Babio is but I think just this team by virtue of their overall talent level they can’t afford to have too many players miss time. You’re already out Tyler Herro, you need to be running on full cylinders and uh right now with Bam’s absence. Uh it does jeopardize things for Miami. So, uh it’s good news that he’ll be back sooner than expected, but you also don’t want him to have any kind of lingering injury that could affect him throughout the season because Miamiy’s uh looking to make a push. They they’ve started off strongly. They had a tough setback, I think, on the West Coast road trip, but now that they’re back at home for a few games, they have a chance to continue to pile on some wins and make a statement in the Eastern Conference. So, um, in terms of who needs to step up in Bam’s absence, however long it might be, we’ll get to a couple of these things here, but right off the bat for players and on the roster, Kellwear is going to start in Bam’s place. Then you’ve got Nikico Yoic um who has dabbled a little bit at center and is obviously another big man on the roster. Kashad Johnson we saw get minutes at center. All 6’6 of Kashad Johnson getting minutes at center against Denver to mixed results. Although I would say getting thrown into the deep end of the pool against Nikolic isn’t a great first uh example of what Kash Johnson could do at that center spot. That’s like like going out to the Great Barrier Reef to learn your first swimming and there’s sharks swimming around. It’s like, you know, figure it out. This is it. This you got to deal with now. He’s like, “Is all water like this? Is Is it Is this swimming all the time?” He’s like, “Yeah.” Um, also worth mentioning that Vlad Golden uh is going to join Miami uh today after being sent to the G-League earlier this week. So, they are calling up Vlad Golden from the G-League. So, they’re going to have him uh Vlad Golden, the center on the two-way contract. They’ll have him available. no guarantee whether he’ll play or not, but he’s he’s available if they do need him. So, in the short term, they’ve got Golden, they’ve got Wear, they’ve got Nico, and they’ve got Kashad Johnson. These are the guys that are going to be playing the minutes these first couple of games without Bam, right? I expect Kar to start. We’ll talk a little bit more about what we need to see more from Kawware of in a second, but if BAM has to miss more time, right? And again, it’s dayto-day. I want to expect the best, but this heat organization is also pretty notorious of being like, “Hey, it’s day to day.” Next thing you know, it’s like, “It’s been a couple of weeks.” Yeah. Um, lot of days. It’s a lot of day to day to day to day to day. Uh, you know, we’ve gotten a lot of questions about, hey, well, could Miami go out and sign a free agent center? So, there’s some complications with that. So, Precious Aua, which is the guy that they signed in training camp and preseason, he’s already signed with Sacramento. So if you wanted to go out and get precious, he ain’t available anymore. Uh the he waved them so they can get under the luxury tax. They’re still about a million dollars, million.2 uh under the luxury tax. So they don’t have enough space, in other words, to sign a guy to a veteran minimum. And they would have to wait until I think it’s December 13th or December 14th in order to sign a player to a pro-rated minimum and still stay under the luxury tax. It’s November 7th, so and Bam’s hurt right now. So, I understand maybe people questioning, hey, should they just go out and sign somebody right now based on their current position against the tax? What they could do is sign a player to a non-g guaranteed contract and then basically just pay that player out dayto day and then as soon as BAM comes back, wave that player, right? And then when you wave that player, you’d be under the luxury tax and then you could still potentially sign somebody later in the season. It wouldn’t be in the middle of December. You’d have to because you’d be spending some of that money against the cap. You’d be eating into that space there. You’d push that day of when you could sign that player to a pro rate minimum to later in December or January or whatever, depending on how many days that you sign this player potentially for. So, it’s not impossible. I do think it’s not where the Heat want to go. I think they want to probably try to get through these first couple of games and see how Kaware, Nico, and Kashad and Vlad Golden hold up, right? And then make that decision. But it is a decision that they could potentially make. And then the next obvious thing is, well, then who are we talking about here, David? But, uh, before we get to free agent names, I mean, you just look at this schedule coming up. It’s Charlotte tonight. You know, Kulk Bunner is a nice rookie. I don’t know that you’re worried about Charlotte, though. Portland, Donovan Klingan is a good big defensive center, but they do run small once Klingan comes off the court, right? They’re not playing Young Hansen a lot. Uh, there’s lineups with Jeremy Grant at the five. I think you could probably get away with not having to go out and get outside help against Charlotte and Portland. And then you play Cleveland on Monday. We don’t maybe BAM will be available by then and none of this is even the whole conversation is moot, right? But Cleveland with Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, that’s a big team. It’s tough and that’s a big challenge for KL, as we saw in the playoffs last year. If you get into the the two games against Cleveland Monday and Wednesday and then New York, the Knicks on Friday and Monday, that’s another big team with Carl Anthony Towns when we saw how important Bam was in defending Towns in that first game earlier this year. If you’re getting into those games without Bam being back, then I think you have to consider maybe going out and getting somebody. Yeah, I I think that’s uh absolutely the case. It just also seems like Miami doesn’t typically do that. like even when they’re injured, it’s always next man up. And that’s the mentality and that extends even to and look in all fairness, they’ve usually been limited to the point where they can’t just add somebody. So, it’s not like those options have always been readily available. But it also seems like Miami just isn’t the type of organization that thinks of that as the the first course of action. But against Cleveland, I mean, even if BAM is available, can you afford to run a lineup against Jared Allen and Evan Mobley with Andrew Wiggins at the four spot? like that seems a little bit more difficult too. So you might have to tweak, you know, tweak the lineup even more so than what we’ve already seen and especially with Bam’s injury has to be taken into consideration. Not to mention even following the Cleveland games, you got New York with Mitchell Robinson and Carl Anthony Towns. Yeah, another difficult Yeah. So that’s another difficult lineup to have to deal with. So, um, maybe it’s good to get Khalil those reps now knowing that maybe it’s still his job to lose moving forward and he’ll be continuing to start with Bam coming in at the four and maybe I don’t know tweak, you know, changing the lineup yet again because I think you kind of have to do something a little differently. So, you mentioned Khalware getting some reps there. That might be a silver lining to all of this BAM stuff. I want to talk about that. Plus, I promised some names for agent names. I know people want them. So, we’ll talk about some potential names that the Heat could go out and pick up. Uh, and then KL We are potentially getting more reps here next on Locked on Heat. Today’s episode is brought to you by Door Dash. The NBA season is heating up and Door Dash has found the perfect way to keep fans in their bag all season long. Whether you’re watching for the highlights, your fantasy team, or just your favorite player, Door Dash makes every game night even better because Door Dash is the official ondemand delivery platform of the NBA. And they’re celebrating with something called the Bagdrop. Every time an NBA player scores 50 points in a game, Door Dash drops 50% off your order with Dash Pass the next day and you’re automatically entered for a chance to win the ultimate fan bag. We’re talking player inspired trip, exclusive gear, and stuff you’ll actually want. I love that it’s not just food. You can get anything you want from snacks and drinks to headphones, ice, even socks, all delivered right to your door. Door Dash has you covered for late night highlights, last minute watch parties, and doubleot fuelups. Look, we just went through that West Coast road trip. If you’re looking for something to keep you up while you’re watching those games, then Door Dash is for you. The next time someone goes off for 50, remember, use the promo code NBA50 and the next day you get 50% off on Door Dash with Dash Pass, plus your shot at the big bag. Dash Pass members only. 50% off up to $10 the day after, a 50 point game with a promo code terms to apply. No purchase necessary. Ends April 13th. Open a US president 21 or older. Visit door-inyourbag.com for full details. Door Dash in your bag all season long. Today’s episode is also brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA’s back. There’s no better time to get in on the action than with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or you want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a save game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. Keeps getting every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. right now, maybe you might want to put a little uh I don’t know, maybe concentrate on Khalil Wear because he is probably going to get some more opportunity. And if you think he can live up to those expectations, now might be the right time to place something on Wear’s production. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fuel.com, sign up to play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. We’ll be right back. Thanks again for making lockdown on heat your first listen every day before we get to uh what we need to see more of from Kawway or Nicolovic. I got some stats that I wanted that I pulled out that I think are pretty illustrative of their struggles so far and and in areas where they can improve and get better. But before we do that, if the Heat were to go out and try to sign somebody basically on a sort of day-to-day type of contract, the free agent market is pretty thin at that center spot right now. Um, but two names that immediately jumped out that we know that have had ties to Miami already in the summer, Kai Jones and Trey Lyles. Two guys at the Heat were exploring. Uh, Kai Jones, I think, is playing overseas right now. So, I would assume that he’s got some sort of out in his contract because a lot of these players that play in Europe do um where if they get like the NBA call up that they can kind of just null and void their European contract and just pop on back over to the NBA. So, Kai Jones would be one of them and then Trey Lyles would be another guy. Um, three other names though that stand out. Bullbull, he’s out there. Not really the big body that you’d probably want next to Kell, right? If you were going to play big and and with Bam, I think what you’re really miss, you’re missing so much with Bam. You’re also really missing rebounding. And Kell is a fine individual rebounder. He’s not a good team rebounder. So, I don’t know that you’re necessarily getting that with bowl, but you’re getting some floor space and you’re getting a lot of dynam dynam dynamism. Dynamism. That’s about right. Okay. Uh, you’re getting that and maybe you can play kind of play him in this offense. Um, another name that I came across, Micah Potter. Oh, Heat fans might remember him from Sou Falls. He played last year, I think, with Utah. You fans probably don’t remember him from Sou Falls. I think some of our dieards remember Micah Potter. Maybe not. The Micah Potter era came and went pretty quickly. I’m not sure. It was not a long era. Yeah. Um but he’s out there. He’s a bigger body. Um that might be a guy that Miami they have some familiarity with. Might want to revisit. And here’s the other one. David Ben Simmons. He’s been playing he played center last year for the Clippers. If you’re looking at guys who can handle the ball in the open court and play with speed and make quick decisions, do it. It’s Ben Simmons. Now, he can get to the rim. He won’t shoot when he gets there. He won’t get to the free throw line. He’ll make sure he does not get fouled. But if he’s passing it to Norm Pal, who he has experience playing with or passing it out to Andrew Wiggins or Himehake Jr. to do stuff with the ball in their hands, I don’t mind it. It’s It’s a name. It’s definitely a name. It would be It’s not It would not be the guy I signed, but I’d be lying if I told you that if we didn’t get the uh the press release like later this weekend or something that the Heat are signing Ben Simmons to a one-year non-G guaranteed contract. It It would be something that would be at least exciting and surprising. Now, here’s here’s a caveat. Shares an agent with Jimmy Butler, Bernie Lee, of course. So, uh, uh, are they still is is he still there? Isn’t he? If not, uh, maybe I take it back. But, uh, if he is, is that relationship still like hunky dory enough to the point where Miami be like, “Yeah, we we’ll take a flyer on on Simmons.” I don’t know. I thought they were I thought that was his agent. So, uh, Mark Stein reported two months ago, “As Ben Simmons decides his next career steps, I’m told Bernie Lee has notified the NBA PA that he has formally removed himself from the union’s ledger as Simmons’s agent.” Okay. So, so Bernie Lee may have fired himself. Yeah. He was like, “No, I don’t want to deal with this.” Uh, which kind of makes it seem like Ben Simmons just doesn’t want to play basketball anymore, which is totally fine. So, I don’t know if he doesn’t really seem like a Heat type of guy, Safe to say. They kind of like, you know what? Do I really want to be here? It’s like, you better want to be here. Like, that’s not who they want. They want guys who like of those names, I’d have to say Kai Jones is probably the one who’s like, “You know what? This is your last chance. And if you can’t make it here with this opportunity that Miami of all organizations is going to give you, brother, forget about it.” Like, this is an organization that is known for resuscitating careers and helping guys kind of get back on track knowing that if you buy in and you show something, you’re going to get paid and you’re going to get the opportunity. If you really want that and it seems like Kai Jones keeps flirting with that idea, then absolutely. I think that’s the name that you go after. Other than that, I don’t know that any other name I’m with you. I like Kai Jones. I like Trey Lyles. I’ve liked Trey Lyles since Kentucky. I’ve still I still have a little bit of real estate on Trey Lyles Island. Can’t say it’s super great, but I I I think I think the big question is what are we looking to get in terms of a replacement? Because I think Khil Wear is going to unfortunately he’s going to try to stretch the floor more often than not. Is he going to be a consistent rim threat? I don’t know. Uh because it it all depends kind of on guard play. Is that chemistry with say DaVon or Andrew Wiggins or Norm Pal going to be there to the extent where he’s going to get force-fed at the rim because that’s really the only opportunity for where to get his offense. And is he going to provide some heft in the paint against other centers, right? And that’s that’s why I think Kai Jones is like the balance in between because he can potentially space the floor. He is big, right? He’s like 6’11 220 pounds. Like he’s a bigger body. Um he’s not as big as you’d like. He’s not, you know, as strong as but nobody on this list is like super big and strong. So, right. Um, he might be the happy medium. Anyway, Khlo Wear, talk about thrown in the deep end. He’s being thrown into the deep end again, right? He’s thrown in the deep end as a rookie. I think he’s still kind of swimming and maybe, you know, the waves are sort of crashing over him right now a little bit, but this feels make or break sounds extreme, but this is a big opportunity for Kell. No doubt. And Eric Spolstra is going to want to and this coaching staff is gonna want to see Kell step up. this lack of urgency, energy, all the things that this coaching staff is on Kell wear about all the time where they say, “Hey, if you don’t have it, we’re going to pull you.” They can’t really afford to pull him right now, right? And so they’re where’s for better or worse, and this might be where the silver lining part of this comes in, he’s going to be able to play through all of that um more likely than not. Now, Kell is a team worst minus 43 this season. This isn’t necessarily the coaching staff just being hard on him for no reason. He’s been bad. Yeah, largely. He’s been he’s had moments, but he’s in the aggregate been bad. His defense has been bad. Uh the rebounding when he’s on the court has been bad. Opponents are grabbing this is a crazy stat. Opponents are grabbing 20% more offensive rebound offensive rebounds per game when Kell Wear is on the court than when Bam is on the court. 20% more. That is two fundamentally different basketball teams. When you have BAM out there versus when you have wear out there. When BAM is out there, this team does not give up offensive rebounds. When wear is out there, this team leaks offensive rebounds. And that would be the number one thing I’m looking at, the scoring, all that kind of stuff. Like that’s fine, but can you just do the yard work, right? Take care of the yard work. Take care of the boards, rebound your position, and defend your position. Defend the basket. Those are the two things I’m looking for for Kawware before we get into all the accutra months of scoring and shooting threes and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. No, it’s it makes sense. It’s going to be a tough ch. I just don’t know that he’s capable of it right now. I mean, it we talked about again in the Denver loss, you know, how Bam makes everybody else’s job easier. And I wonder is this too much for Kil to take onto his plate at this stage? because it almost seems like because he’s struggling so widely, it would almost be beneficial for him to just focus on one particular aspect and try to dominate in that one. And I don’t know what that aspect is. I just don’t it would have to be, but uh yeah, he just seems to lack the physicality to be able to pull that off. Like he’s just not strong enough to be able to be Look, he pulled down some boards against Denver, but that was basically by default. Like who else is going to grab him? You’re 7 feet tall and I don’t know. But he could do it in these matchups against Charlotte, against Kulkrunner. Kulkrunner is a big guy. He’s not that big. No, but he’s physical. He’s physical, but he’s going to box the hell out of Kh out of the way. K’s got the the catch radius, right? He’s got that Calvin Johnson catch radius. That’s his superpower as a rebounder. It’s, you’re right, cuz he’s not super physical, but go up there and get it. Like, where’s the timing on the jumps? And that’s something that shows up in his blocking. He doesn’t get a lot of block shots for a guy who’s 7 foot one. Yeah. He doesn’t block a lot of shots and his timing is just sort of off on it. Yeah. Like how many times will you see Kow Wear jump at a block and just miss it. Like it’s a lot of swings and misses. He’s never had to. Like at seven feet tall against lesser players in high school and college, you can get away with that in the NBA. It’s like what? We’re gonna use your timing against you and you’re gonna just take you out of the play and probably draw a foul in the process. And with Bam, it’s not just the rebounding numbers. It’s the crucial points in the game in which he pulls out those rebounds that are swing moments. And that’s what I don’t see from Khil. Like Khil doesn’t have those swing rebounds. It’s like, well, the ball’s here and it’s obviously going to come to me because I’m taller than everybody else, but will he go after and chase those loose boards where it’s a 50-50 ball, winning plays, etc. Those are the things looking for. Those winning contested rebounds. I mean, Khal does a good job of the lowhanging fruit rebounds where everybody’s cleared out and he just grabs the he just grabs the he’s the only guy there because everybody else is leaking out to try to get in transition and and the defense is already headed back because they know they got to get back. But those contested rebounds to your point, he’s got to he’s for every one like I would trade three lowhanging fruit rebounds for one contested rebound. You know what I mean? And those are the ones that Bam tends to gobble up and Kell will always get 12 10 to 12 rebounds because he gets the low hanging fruit ones. Yep. Uh the other guy that needs to step up, we’ll talk about him here in a second on locked on heat. Today’s show is brought to you by Prize Picks. You and I make decisions every day, but on Prize Picks, being right can get you paid. Don’t miss any of the excitement of this sports season. Whether you’re following the NFL, the NBA, or both, there’s no better time to jump in on the action. If you haven’t tried it yet, prize picks is the simplest way to play. You just pick more or less on at least two player stats. If you get them right, well, you win. It takes less than 60 seconds to make your lineup, and you can play anywhere that Prize Picks operates, including California, Texas, and Georgia. Uh, if you’re using Prize Picks, you got to try it during football Sundays and NBA tip offs because it just keeps every game exciting. There’s so many games on the slate sometimes you can’t keep track. Well, you will when your Price Picks is involved. You can download the Price Pix app today and you can use the code locked on NBA. You get $50 in lineups. That’s Locked On NBA. $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Don’t forget the code locked on NBA for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup prize picks. It’s good to be right. We’ll be right back. The other guy that needs to step up is Nikolovic. Um this is a big chance for him, too. Just like Kell, it’s been a disappointing start to the season for Nico. similar rebounding issues when Bam is off the court as where right when Nico’s on there, they’re just they’re not rebounding the ball as much and they need to they need to do it. Um what else are you looking for from Nico in these first couple of games? Three-point shooting, that’s where I think he’s been the the worst. Uh we’ve seen the psychological impact in the past and I think Nico’s just totally taken himself out of the game. He’s just not an effective three-point shooter right now. And maybe Bam isn’t a great three-point shooter, but the sheer volume is a threat and it certainly has been a boo offense and and Nico just hasn’t been able to duplicate it. Miami is winning despite Nico, not because of him. And that’s where he needs to be more of an impact player. I think that’s basically what you’re looking for. When he’s in his minutes, it’d be great if he could win the rebounding edge or at least break even. I’m not expecting too much defensively, but in terms of his offense, he needs to be able to do something. push the ball in transition, create opportunities at the rim, and spread the floor. And right now, he’s not doing any of those at a high level. I do wonder if there’s opportunities to run lineups of Kell and Nico, you know, considering that Bam is out. It’s taking a chance, isn’t it? It is. It’s taking a big chance, but I almost like the idea of them trying to compete against each other for who could be more physical in their minutes. I don’t know. Like, and they’re going to need size, right? because that also bumps Wiggins up to the three and maybe there’s more just general size on the court as a team and as a team rebounding situation maybe you’re a little bit better. Um, but you you want to see more from Nico offensively where I think with Kell it’s really about, like I said, doing the yard work, rebounding, defending the basket, th those little things that that not little things, but those those core principles that you need from your center. With Nico, he’s not really a center, even though I think he’ll get minutes at the five. But I almost think if you just think about this in a net rating sense, like, yeah, you’re going to have a little bit of a drop off with Nico as your five. I think the I think on the perimeter he’s actually been okay at times. I think he can be better, but as your five, there’s obviously concerns there. Yeah. But if you’re thinking about this again in a net rating sense, can you overcome enough of those defensive issues with elite offense and just be like, you know what, we’re going to give up some we’re going to give up something defensively with Nico at the five, but offensively we’re going to be so dynamic that we’ll be okay in the aggregate. And with him, we heard Nika Yic say this after the Denver game. He’s like, “Look, Yoic is a great postup player.” And we used him all the time in Serbia as as a post up and they had a lot of success with Yo, and it’s something you and I highlighted during Eurobasket is like, look how look at how they’re using him in the post. They’re not even running plays for him. They’re basically just saying, “Hey, if you get a small on you, duck in there and just put him under the basket and go to work.” And that kind of fits perfectly with Miami’s offense where they’re not running plays for anybody. and they’re saying, “Hey, if you’re out there in transition and you can get a little bit of a mismatch, but we just don’t see a lot of Jokic or Yovic postups.” And I’m wondering with Bam out if we’re going to there’s an opportunity to see more of that here because I I would like to see more of it because it looked good. Eurob basket’s a different kind of thing, but it looked good there. And I’d like to at least see it here because we just don’t see it that much. But where how how are you going to force the switch? It feels like there haven’t been a lot of screens period. Certainly in very few parts. the it’s just mismatches in transition like you know the smallest like that’s where we saw it in Euro basket like they weren’t even really forcing the switch for Nico like I said they’re not they’re not running plays they’re not running like a small big pick and roll to get the switch on that it was just hey we’re we’re out there Joic who’s one of the best hit ahead passers in N in basketball history like you know Davon Mitchell ain’t Joic but he’s a good hit ahead passer um you know Drew Smith is a good hit ahead passer like these guys are trying to get him I think Yep. Yeah. So, if those opportunities, I’m not saying run like six postups for Yo Yoic, but can you get a couple in there cuz that’s more than what we’re getting now. Um, the other thing that uh is the other thing I want to get to, NBA Cup starts tonight. It’ll be the Heat’s first game. The NBA Cup of the League started last week. This will be Miami’s first NBA Cup game tonight against the Charlotte Hornets. Uh, they’ll have the new court. That’ll be kind of cool uh at this home game at Cassa Center. Uh but the main thing here that I’m looking for against Charlotte. LaMelo Ball is questionable for this uh in this game. Brandon Miller is out. Um and those are really the major uh injury things there. Colin Saxon listed as probable, so he’s likely to play, but um and then obviously Bam is is out for Miami. Could see uh Kasparis Yakonis. He’s listed as available. We’ll see. Everybody else seems pretty much healthy except for Tyler Hero obviously, but the rebounding thing is going to be a thing right away. Charlotte, believe it or not, third in overall rebounding rate. That’s going to be a major battleground right out of the gate. Where is that rebounding coming from? Like I I should know this, but it feels like where is it coming from? Is it Cockr Brener? Is it their card play? Like I’m trying to see exactly. I’m looking this up even as we were talking here because I don’t know where the the rebounding edge comes but uh if they’re that they’re that focused on it that’s a pretty surprising thing that they’re succeeding or they’re at le particular aspect. Yeah. So it’s a lot of caller. LaMelo is a good rebounder for his position. He’s a little like Tyler Herro in that way. Now he’s out or potentially out. He’s questionable. So we’ll see. But um uh Musa Diabate between Diabate and Caulkrunner, those are two like high activity rebounders that they are able to throw out there. Uh Tan Salon is also a pretty good rebounder, but I think he’s out. Yeah, he’s he’s on G-League assignment, so he’s not with the team right now. So that might help him a little bit. But even guys like Coniple, Liam McNeely, like those guys are crashing the boards, the rookies that they have, uh they’re getting a little bit of rebounds there. Bridges is goto looking their top rebounder at 7.8 rebounds per game. Calbrer second at 7.1, Diabate third, Miles Bridges fourth. So yeah, there it’s a I guess an egalitarian rebounding style, not dissimilar from what Miami does like, uh, you know, it’s kind of a gang rebounding mentality, but it’s it’s helped them create a sort of edge there. But with ball out, uh, that’s certainly an opportunity for Miami to make up some of that ground because without their size and and for Khil, like he’s going to be the tallest player out there by a wide margin. Can he have the level of aggression to match that size where he can get those kind of uh 50-50 balls and have the opportunity to be able to make swing plays that help Miami secure a win here. Um the other thing that without LaMelo Ball being there cuz he loves to grab that rebound and then take off to the other side of the court, right? Uh without him there, their transition attack takes a bit of a hit. Um they’re still going to try to get up and down. They’re just I don’t think they’re going to be as effective at it without LaMelo. or you know, maybe they will cuz LaMelo Ball was awful the first time that these teams played. So maybe it’ll actually help the Hornets. But um defensively, Charlotte is not a good transition defense. So I think there’s an opportunity here to I don’t know. You mentioned the fan you we did the FanDuel read earlier. Like I might be looking at the over in point total. I I think the Heat are five point favorites in this one. I don’t know without the BAM thing. That’s it’s an interesting kind of swing factor. I don’t know how I’d feel about betting on this team to cover, but that over on the point total, I think it was like a 242 points or something. That looks that’s a big over number, and I might still go over. Like, this could be a barn burner. It’s going to be interesting. Fun Friday night at the center. That’s for sure. Let us know what you think in the YouTube comments. How do the Heat survive without bamio? If they will have to for a prolonged period of time, which one of those free agent names interest you the most? What do you want to see from Kaware and Nicola Yovic tonight? Thanks so much for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day.

Miami Heat face major lineup uncertainty as Bam Adebayo’s injury shakes the frontcourt. With Kel’el Ware and Nikola Jovic thrust into larger roles, can the Heat maintain their momentum in the NBA Cup and upcoming Eastern Conference clashes? The debate intensifies over potential stop-gap solutions, from calling up Vlad Goldin to exploring free agent centers like Kai Jones and Trey Lyles. Will the front office take action, or rely on next-man-up resilience?

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil break down Miami’s rebounding and defensive challenges, question Kel’el Ware’s readiness, and highlight Nikola Jovic’s need for offensive consistency. The hosts assess matchups with Charlotte, Portland, Cleveland, and New York, exploring whether the Heat’s injury woes could spur future roster moves. As Miami prepares for its NBA Cup debut, Spoelstra’s steady leadership and the team’s adaptability take center stage. Can the Heat survive this crucial early-season test?

00:00 Intro
02:00 Bam Adebayo Injury Update
12:58 Free Agent Centers
17:42 Kel’el Ware’s Big Test
26:45 Time for Jovic To Step Up
31:12 Heat vs Hornets NBA Cup Game Preview

Become a Locked On Heat Insider on Subtext! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonheat

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-heat/

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nba

📲 Follow Locked On Heat on Twitter
Locked On Heat https://twitter.com/LockedOnHeat
David Ramil https://twitter.com/dramil13
Wes Goldberg https://twitter.com/wcgoldberg

📸 Follow Locked On Heat on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lockedonheat/

📺 Follow Locked On NBA: https://linktr.ee/lockedonnba

📢 Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! | Offers from our sponsors: lockedonpodcasts.com/offers

DoorDash
Next time someone goes off for 50, use promo code NBA50 the next day to get 50% off on DoorDash with DashPass — plus your shot at the Bag Drop.
DashPass members only. 50% off up to $10 the day after a 50-point game with promo code. Terms apply.
No Purchase Necessary. Ends April 13th. Open to U.S. residents 21 or older. Visit DoorDashInYourBag.com for full details.
DoorDash — In your bag all season long.

Quo
See why over 90,000 businesses trust Quo, formerly OpenPhone. Get started free and get 20% off your first 6 months at https://www.Quo.com/LOCKEDONNBA.

Rippling
Get Rippling FREE for 6 months. Terms and conditions apply. See site for details: https://app.rippling.com/legal/promoterms

Robinhood
You expect more from yourself. Expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/yourmoney. Your money. Your move.

All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Options, futures, and crypto trading carry significant risk and may not suit all investors. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Futures trading is offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC and not SPIC or FDIC protected. Crypto offered through Robinhood Crypto, LLC (NMLS ID 1702840), not FDIC or SIPC protected. Portfolio management offered by Robinhood Strategies, an SEC-registered advisor.

Gametime
Today’s episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.

Peloton
Let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.

Monarch
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at https://monarch.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting https://FanDuel.com to get started

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

#miamiheat #heat #nba #bamadebayo #tylerherro