The Miami Heat Have A Nikola Jovic PROBLEM

The Miami Heat Have A Nikola Jovic PROBLEM

The Miami Heat have a Nola Yovic problem. I made one of these videos for Kel Wear a month ago when he was giving no effort, but he turned it around. So, I’m hoping to do the same thing for Nico Yoic because he has been an unmmitigated disaster through the first 20 games of the season. This is the He report by chat sports. I am Nick Rolloloff. I was as big as a Yovic supporter as there was in the off season. I said consistently that I would offer Nico a three-year $45 million extension this past off seasonason because this would have been his final year under contract and it would have delayed a potential split or a bigger payday this upcoming summer. But evidently that was the wrong decision and I’m man enough to put my hand up and say boy was I wrong about that and Miami should have ultimately let it play out and see what Nico did in his fourth season and then make a decision on what to pay him and if you should extend him rather than extending him before the year. But I thought coming off a year where he was very up and down, but showed a lot of promise, just couldn’t stay on the court due to injuries, that he was going to have his best season yet as a member of the Miami Heat. But it’s been the complete utter opposite. This season to this point has been the worst of Nicole Yoic’s career. It’s been brutal. And that comes after he did get that four-year 62.5 million extension that I mentioned just a little bit ago. happened right before training camp or the first week of training camp in September. And the part that really is a bummer to me is the fact that all reporters literally talked about how they are expecting the Miami Heat. That is Yoic to have the best season of his career for him to go big time. And they wanted to get ahead of the potential breakout year for Nico and extend him now before he does break out. And it ultimately cost him the Heat $20 million per season. But he’s been bad over the last five games that he has played in because he did miss a couple games with a hip injury. He has a negative 10.3 rating. His offensive rating is 11 11.3 and his defensive rating, this is the real issue here, 121.6. That is horrific. And that is in 17.4 minutes per game. So, not only is he not being able to be on the floor, he missed three games. Not only is he not really a key factor in these games, only playing 17 minutes a night, but when he’s been on the floor, he has been without a question the worst player on the Miami Heat roster. It’s been absolutely abysmal. And before we continue here, let me know, do the Miami Heat have a Nola Yoic problem? I think they ultimately do. Let me know your thoughts. Type Y for yes or N for no. But in those last five games, Nico has played. Yes, we just talked about the advanced numbers, the ratings. He is averaging four points per game, shooting 26.7% from the field and 14% from three. That just cannot happen. And this is the complete and utter opposite of the Yovic that we saw, albeit in limited sample sizes because he only played 46 games in 2023 and 2024, but he shot 40% from three. He shot 45% from the field. So, where is the decline in efficiency? He doesn’t look like a capable three-point shooter. And it’s such a surprise to me because I thought he looked like an elite three-point shooter. And elite might be a strong word, but at least off the catch, he’d be able to consistently shoot 38, 39, 40% from beyond the ark. It’s been ugly this year. But the part that is the most concerning to me is his turnovers. He was branded and kind of like presented as this 610 611 point guard. That’s what I thought I saw. That’s what most of you thought they all saw. But that hasn’t been the case whatsoever. There has been many opportunities for him to really showcase his talents, but he hasn’t been able to do it. He has been asked by Eric Spolstra to be the small ball center at times, especially with Ben Bam being out right. Yoic was the backup five to KL Wear in that little stretch of games that Bam was out. And is that fair to Nico? No, probably not because he should not be asked to play center. That is not his job. But he is not that good of a rebounder. He’s one of the softest 610 611 players in the NBA. But you were able to hopefully counteract that with his ability to play in space in tempo and create for others. utilized mismatches due to his size being a 610 611 point guard, but he over the last five games he’s been averaging 2.2 assists per game. So, nothing much there. But here’s the issue. 2.2 turnovers per game. He’s basically averaging a turnover to an assist. That is problematic. That is, simply put, unacceptable. You cannot as a ball handler, as a decision maker, an initiator of the offense, have that bad of an assist to turnover ratio. I think the magic number is 2.5 assists to turnovers. So, if you average five assists to two turnovers, I can live with that. 10 assists to four turnovers, I can live with that. But anything below that is unacceptable. And that is where Nola Yoic is right now. And this is a serious issue moving forward for the Miami Heat. More to come here in a second, but this episode is brought to you by Prize Picks. It is the holiday season, the best time of the year for sports. Bowl games, basketball matchups, playoff pushes, it all is happening at once. And while you and I are here making decisions every day, what gifts to buy, what to eat, which game to watch, there is one place where it feels to be good to be right, and that is prize picks. I’ve been playing all year long, and you would have a ton of success if you were taking the less than on Nicola Yovic’s projections from prize picks. And they actually have a new feature alert as well. Early payouts. If your lineup gets off to a hot start, you may now have the option to cash out those winnings before the game even finishes. It’s so simple. Just pick more or less on at least two player stats. If you get your picks right, you could cash in on Football Sunday today. I’m going more than on Devonte Chan fantasy score as well as more than on Jordan Brooks tackles and assist tackles. You can join me by downloading the Prizebooks app today and use code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code CLNS to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks, it’s good to be right. The more disappointing thing about Yoic is that he was going to be asked to take a step forward. He was not played in the game on Wednesday against the Bucks. I thought that was significant because it was the first time that Miami was fully healthy. They had Hero, they had Bam, they had Wear, they had Wiggins, they had Powell, they had everybody. There was not a single player healthy that did not play or or single player on the active roster that was inactive for that game. And Nico didn’t play, meaning he was out of the rotation. And then he was asked to take a step up on Saturday night against the Pistons when Haime Hakees Jr. missed the game with a groin strain. And it was obvious that Hakez’s role off the bench was just going to basically be handed to Nico. Okay, Nico, you be that initiator, that player that gets downhill, collapses the defense, kicks out, gets the offense rolling in that second unit. Well, he couldn’t do it. In 10 minutes, he had two points, two rebounds, one assist, five turnovers. Five turnovers to one assist. Shot one of three from the field and committed five fouls. He is atrocious on the defensive end. You think Tyler Hiro is bad defensively? And we’ll talk a little bit about that situation here in a second. Nico Yoic makes Tyler Herro look like Kawhi Leonard. That is how bad Yoic is defensively. They target him non-stop every single minute he’s on the floor. And until he proves he can be an average defender in the NBA, they’re going to continue to put him in the pick and roll. and he’s gonna continue to be a foul merchant because all he does is hack when he gets beat driving to the rim. I mean, there is not one thing right now that this man does well in a basketball court. And it breaks my heart as someone who has seen the upside, seen the possibilities of Yoic. We’ve seen him play well in the past, but he is just either in his own head right now. This offensive uptempo scheme just doesn’t fit him, or he just has mailed it in after getting the contract. I don’t know what it is, but this isn’t the Nikico Yoic that we saw early in his career over the last two seasons. I know he just played 46 games in each of the last two seasons, but we’ve seen him play good basketball. And what he is doing right now is a mockery of the sport. It’s been horrible. And the fact that he still has four years left on his contract after the season, 6.2 mil next year, 14.9 the year after, 15.1 in 2829 in the final year of his deal at 16.2 2 in 2029 30. Like, am I ready to come up here and tell you that Miami should already try to trade him this season? I wouldn’t go that far. But let me say this, he is no longer a player that I would be hesitant to trade in an upgrade. If Miami wants to make a consolidation trade, which may be the best thing for this team going forward at the deadline, Nicole Yovich should absolutely be included in that deal. Unless that’s mandatory that it’s like Himemehay Hakez or someone else, Yovich should be included in that deal. And we’ll round out the show here in a second. But make sure you do subscribe to the channel. We’ll be live on the channel once again on Monday, December 1st for Heat Clippers basketball. Hopefully Miami is able to bounce back from the loss on Saturday against the Pistons. Subscribe for daily content and join us Monday night. But the reason why I I briefly mentioned that consolidation trade and I want to talk about this again is I think Miami has too many redundant players on its roster right now. I mean, a lot of people were excited to see the Tyler Herro and Norman Powell backcourt. I was very much included in that. But I think it’s pretty evident that the two players are so similar in terms of their role. Like when you really dive into it, Hero and Pow, what do they do best? They score the ball. They shoot the ball. They act in space. Well, what what is each other going to bring to the table when they’re both on the floor together? Because they’re not good defensively. I mean, they’re both at best below average defenders. Now, I think Powell is better defensively than Heroes because he’s simply more athletic. He’s a bit longer and but like they still are both below average defenders. So, when you have them on the court together, they bring the same thing to the table offensively and they bring the same bad thing to the table defensively. Yeah. I don’t think you can really have the two of them on the floor that often, especially if you have DaVon Mitchell because they’re just too small. DaVon’s awesome defensively. the way he accelerates and open space and creates for others, it’s awesome. But if you have him, Paulo, and here on the court, there just are three undersized guards that two of them stink defensively and you are just too small. So like I almost want to get KL Wear back into the starting lineup with Bam and just make Bam your official four, KL Wear your official five and then you just stagger those two throughout the games and then bring them in together in the big moments like to start the game and to close the game. But then who goes to the bench? Is it Powell or Hero or Mitchell? Because Wiggins is going to start because you need that lengthy wing defender and Wiggins has actually been solid over the past couple of games against the Bucks and was phenomenal against the Pistons on Saturday night. Well, that’s my issue is that I know this is going to hurt for some people to hear this, but DaVon Mitchell should start. They he he should. He’s been fantastic this year and I think it’s evident his role defensively and offensively is pivotal for this Heat team. So, which of Hero and Powell goes to the bench? Because Hero has been an all-star 25 point per game score, but we already saw what Norman Powell can do as that lead score, two guard shooting guy. He’s having 24 points a game this season and the Heat were playing excellent basketball. So, who do you put to the bench? Well, the answer is that you should really have none of them go to the bench. And the answer should be that you trade one of Polar Hero to a different team at the deadline or over the next month. and a half and try to get an upgrade whether it is a backup big like Nick Claxton. What What if you traded Hero or I would I probably say it’s Hero, but what if you traded Hero to the the Nets for Nick Claxton in a pick? Would they be interested in that? Because if they would, it’d be a very interesting conversation to be had because this is not me hating on Tyler Herro. It’s me just saying one of the two power hero I think need to go because they just do the same things. It’s redundant and this Heat team needs more size. If you bring in Nick Claxton, you now can just put Bam at the four full time and have Wear and Claxton rotate at center. Norm Powell and Hero are both players also that need to get extension soon. Are you gonna pay both of them? Absolutely not. You can’t do that. So, why not trade one of them, recoup assets back, and then just extend the other, whatever one you want to keep. And I don’t know who the Heat should keep at this point. I mean, if the trade value for Hero is higher, which you would imagine it being that because he’s younger, I I I think I would explore that. But there’s a lot of time between now and the trade deadline. And there’s a lot of time for the Heat to prove me wrong. A lot of time for Nicole Yos to prove me wrong. And hopefully things turn around because it’s been a clunky fit so far in Miami ever since Heroes returned on Monday against the Mavericks. You’re two and one, but you had poor offensive displays of shooting on Monday and Wednesday. Barely escaped with wins against inferior opponents, missing players. And then you ultimately had a good offensive game on Saturday against the Pistons, but you still came up short and you were down by double digits for most of that game. So, we’ll see. But make sure you do subscribe and make sure you join us for Heat vers Clippers Monday

Nikola Jovic is making headwaves in the Miami Heat news after an abysmal performance on Saturday night against the Detroit Pistons. Miami lost at home to Detroit, 138-135. Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS and use code CLNS and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! The Heat extended Nikola Jovic prior to the season with a 4-year, $62.5 MM contract. Jovic has been bad for Miami this year, and seems to be out of the Heat rotation when Miami is fully healthy. Heat Report host Nic Rohloff talks Nikola Jovic, Heat news, and Miami Heat rumors following the Heat loss to the Pistons.

Get down in the comments and answer today’s Heat questions!
– Do the Heat have a Nikola Jovic problem? Type ‘Y’ for Yes or ‘N’ for No

Nikola Jovic advanced stats the past 5 games:
111.3 OFF RTG
121.6 DEF RTG
-10.3 Net RTG
17.4 mins per game

Nikola Jovic stats the past 5 games:
4.0 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.2 APG. 26.7 FG%, 14.3 3P%, 2.2 TPG

Missed our recent Miami Heat YouTube coverage? We got you covered:
– Andrew Wiggins Trade Rumors Are BACK! Lakers Want To Trade For Wiggins per NBA Insider | Heat Rumors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zngzkjgx8L0
– GREAT NEWS Keeps Rolling In For The Miami Heat!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynPWkZHcy6E
– Miami Heat Rumors: Lauri Markkanen The PERFECT Heat Trade Target?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWCb64sVltU

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Nikola Jovic stats vs. Pistons:
10 mins – 2 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST/5 TO, 1/3 FG

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Miami Heat 2025-26 stat leaders:
PPG: Norman Powell
RPG: Bam Adebayo
APG: Davion Mitchell
STL: Dru Smith
BLK: Kel’el Ware

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