Miami Heat Media Day TAKEAWAYS: Fresh VIBES, Herro’s Timeline, New Offense, Training Camp Battles

Miami Heat Media Day TAKEAWAYS: Fresh VIBES, Herro’s Timeline, New Offense, Training Camp Battles

Okay, locked on heat here from media day. We’ve got a quick update on Tyler Herro’s optimistic timeline and some new information on what this heat team could look like this season. Let’s jump in. You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back to Locked on Heat. Thanks for making us your first listen every day. However you might be tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app. Thanks so much for making us your first listen every day. Wes Gold here with David Rmill. We are here at Heat Media Day. We just got done talking with a few players um about their thoughts on the upcoming season. We listened to Eric Spolstra, Tyler Herro, Bamabio talk in their overall media session. And uh David, I think there’s a lot to get into here, but the number one thing I would say right off the top, different vibe. Absolutely. Yeah. Everybody’s commented on the fact that it’s a new locker room, a new opportunity, and it’s a little different. It’s not the same hangover that we’ve seen over the last few years of the Butler iteration of the Heat where you kind of have a a consistent carryover from one season into the next. And I know a lot of fans have complained about the lack of changes to the roster, but this is completely different. Not only is it a new roster, but it’s also a new vibe. Uh just a completely different feel. Everybody’s talked about the the youth movement of this group and how they’re kind of leaning into that completely. And I think you you see a different sort of vibe about this year’s team. Yeah. And I would argue that it does feel like the roster is different. Obviously, there’s a lot of the same players here, but there’s a lot of new faces. Like I said, a different kind of energy, a different kind of vibe. Um, and a lot of I would say even the players that were here kind of see themselves in maybe a different kind of a new role. So, um, we’re going to post all of our individual interviews that we did with the players in, uh, um, individually on YouTube and in your podcast feed. So, be on the lookout for all of that. Uh, we will touch on some of our bigger takeaways from those interviews here in a second. But, we got to start with the big news, which is Tyler Hero. Uh it was it was revealed a couple days ago that he underwent a offseason procedure um to repair his left ankle and foot. Um a little bit of uh questions about when the injury happened, why did it take him so long to undergo this procedure and things like that. Uh and we heard from Tyler Herro himself today and he gave us uh he shed some light on on that situation. And the first thing that we want to talk about is the timeline, right? The Heat in their press release said eight weeks. we got here on here and said eight weeks is probably the it’s not unrealistic but it’s on the optimistic side of things and then you hear now Tyler Herro saying yeah the typical timeline is 8 to 12 weeks but again talking to Tyler Hero hearing from Eric Spolster on these things everybody seems pretty optimistic about where Tyler is Tyler Hero even said you know he’s ahead of schedule and where things are so you know Spo said potentially November we could see Tyler Herro back that seems a little unlikely I got to be honest with I don’t not quite sure how to take it because Tyler’s comments were a little vaguely phrased in the terms of did he mean from when the surgery took place or from this point forward like he said he might be available in six weeks he means six weeks from when surgery he was telling Tyler Tyler Hero said he was telling Eric Spolster he’ll be ready in six weeks which I really hope that doesn’t get taken too much out of context does feel like that’s just a thing that Tyler was trying to tell spo in ter trying to understand how optimistic he is right I I don’t want to I don’t want to hold him to that time I guess ultimately he’s ahead of schedule and he’s doing well and I don’t think anybody’s viewing it as a major impediment to the season or their success early on that they’re going to try to find some kind of way of replicating what he does offensively and yet still not looking at it as now this puts us in a really dire place. It’s not the same situation as say losing uh a singular superstar that is the engine of your team. It’s not losing Luca Donic or Janice Dempo. As good as Tyler is, certainly still an all-star, not as integral to what this offense is trying to do. A big part of it certainly, but not as integral and not as like questionable, but like some of these other types of injuries. We kind of know what this procedure is and what it looks like. So, again, uh, Taliro kind of went through the whole process of how this all went down. He talked about the fact that there was he was born with like an extra bone in his foot of some kind. like, “All right, cool.” Um, something you won’t really know until you get that MRI. Now, built different, I guess, literally built different. Um, but, uh, so he’s born with this extra bone. He, uh, he starts to feel the pain during the summer. And again, we got a lot of these questions. Why didn’t Telehiro have the surgery right after the season? I talked about, yeah, it wasn’t bothering him after the season. That would have been ridiculous to have a procedure. He said that he started to feel the pinching on the bottom of his foot in the middle of July during an offseason workout. and he said, “Okay.” And as a player typically will do, they try to undergo treatment. You don’t immediately just have surgery at the first sign of pain at a part of your body. So they did a PRP, they did the the cortisols, all that kind of stuff. So eventually it didn’t work. He went weeks, weeks, weeks, and the pain wasn’t subsiding. The pinching wasn’t point where he literally could not jump and land. He said he couldn’t plant his foot. He couldn’t plan. He didn’t have full flexion and full uh mobility. So it was decided that he had to undergo the surgery. So for anybody that was wondering why it took them this long or why they had the procedure when they did, that’s it, right? He h it wasn’t something that was bothering him at the end of last year. We told you that on the show. He said it today to everybody. Um it happened in the middle of July and that’s why it happens. And now you’re starting to hear maybe an optimistic timeline. But again, to your point, David, they aren’t talking about it as if season is over, which is sort of what it felt like when the news was uh announced initially. No, we’ve certainly seen that reaction from our fans, you know, that uh it doesn’t seem uh that there’s any hope for this team moving forward without Tyler. And and while listen, again, he’s in a very important part of what this team is trying to do, uh I think there’s this kind of optimism throughout this the group right now that they’re looking at his loss and not seeing it as anything that’s going to throw them off track or keep them from their goals. They’re going to find other ways of stepping up and getting the kind of production they need to continue winning at a high level, right? And um everybody’s talking about the people that who are going to step into his role. Norm Pal obviously expect to be a big part of that, right? And I think the offense we’re going to talk about here in a second is expected to change in a way that can kind of withstand the Tyler Herro thing. But I want to go back to a point you made before too where you said it’s not as like it’s not like this is Giannis or Luca or somebody like that going down. It’s also not like John or these Zion Williamson characters who it’s like okay you’re coming back. When are you really going to come back? questionable injury histories. Tyler Hero obviously has his fair share of injury history, but this is something that’s very specific in that it was a a procedure to repair something and that and and it feels like the the timeline and the deadline on this is very specific. Like once once he’s finally back on the court, as Tyler Herro said, he’s expected to be fully recovered. This is not expected to be an issue anymore. The bone’s gone. Like that extra bone that he was born with is gone now. That was sort of um the issue here, right, is gone. So everybody’s expecting a full recovery from him. That’s a good point. It’s it’s not like there’s this history where you don’t know like let’s say even as you try to gauge what the Philadelphia 76ers are going to do, right? You have no idea what to expect from a team that includes Paul George and Joel Embiid because both of them are so injuryprone. They’ve had these kind of long-term issues that have always been derailing their careers or their season hopes. And I don’t think that’s the case with Tyler. It’s not again it’s like oh not another long another history of injury or another injury that’s being added to this long list here. It’s just the issue was as you said taken care of. It’s gone. They’re going to be able to move on. He’s even asked like is this like how’s this compare to your other ankles in other ankle injuries like the other one was just a straight up ankle sprain. That’s just happens in basketball. Obviously has the broken hand. That’s a freak injury. Diving for a loose ball in the playoffs. It’s not like this is a repeat offense, a repeat thing on this. Not as fragile would you say? Maybe not as fragile. I I don’t know. But um he is here at media day. He’s on a scooter with that with that foot. So he still is not able to plant on it. He mentioned he’s supposed to get the stitches out in the next couple weeks and at that point you start doing some things. Um the return to play part of it I think is going to be a question in terms of conditioning. When does he get his wind, but that’s that’s part of the ramping up process. Um did look mostly in good shape though. You also continue to add some muscle mass. Yeah, I am I’m a little concerned that he hasn’t been able to really do anything since like like he didn’t undergo the surgery in mid July obviously, but he started to become limited in mid July. So, I’m a little concerned about how long he’s been limited in terms of his overall basketball activity. But, um, you know, hopefully if this injury is behind him, then it just it takes him, you know, a little bit to get back to basketball activity, get his breath, get his wind, probably be on a minute restriction when he first returns. But, we’re getting way ahead of ourselves on that part. Um, the overall vibe around Tyler Herro right now is mostly optimistic. Maybe it’s just a media day thing. I don’t know. Um, but I I don’t not typically optimistic around media day. I mean, you don’t get a lot of players are being optimistic. I’m saying it from him’s perspective. Oh, yeah. Is that what you meant? I meant from like talking to people around here. Everybody’s like, “Yeah, it sucks that he’s out, but we’re not like this isn’t like sabotaging our season. The season isn’t derailed. It sucks. It’s unfortunate. We’re not what we’re obviously everybody’s been very aware that they’re not going to be where they want to be at the start of the season in terms of roster health, but um it doesn’t feel like a death now. If anything, they feel the way I would say it is like the plan is to hold serve until he comes back, right? Yeah. And kudos to the coaching staff because I think they’ve talked to everybody and understood that um this is what the situation is and keeping everybody and kind of communicating with them clearly about what’s happening. And I think you’re also seeing players that are recognizing more of an opportunity. We talked to him. He said that guys were going to get more playing time um get more opportunities. Uh we talked to a number of players that really kind of echoed that sentiment that they’re going to be able to do something perhaps a little differently than what they’ve done in the past. And that’s because of a different style of play, different roster, but also, yeah, because of Tyler’s injury, now there’s an opportunity. We did get a lot more specifics on what this style of play might look like, some of the things that they’re trying to prioritize and trying to install during training camp this week. We’re going to talk about that next. Today’s episode of Locked on Heat from Miami Heat Media Day is brought to you by FanDuel. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer that you don’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Uh, I love how FanD FanDuel gives me so many ways to play. I’ve built parlays, tried player props, even followed the live lines during games. It makes watching football even more exciting when you got a little bit something riding on the action. Whether you’re a casual fan or love diving into the stats, FanDuel makes the game day experience so much better. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. [Music] So, let’s talk about the offense because that’s the big emphasis here is all right, Jimmy Polar’s gone. This is the subtext around basically everything. Jimmy’s gone. A lot of the old players are gone. It’s a new look roster. It’s a younger roster. No doubt, which has been a theme today. Absolutely. Um, and you’ve got things that people say at media day, right? Every team at media day says what? We want to play faster. We want to be up tempo. We want to stay healthy. um we want to play with pace. Everybody’s going to say that this team really does need to do it. And I act and you look at the roster and you look at the personnel and I I don’t know if I’m just buy just drinking the Kool-Aid. David, maybe you could correct me here. I I do believe this team is going to play faster. We even had one player tell us like, “Hey, Jimmy’s not here anymore. We were purposely slowing down with him in here.” Not even saying it was a bad thing. He’s like, “Obviously, he was really important, but he’s not here, so we don’t have that option anymore. We kind of have to play fast.” Yeah. I think it’s a matter of recognizing you’re, you know, having a level of self-awareness is that, uh, because of the roster, because you’re lacking that number one type superstar that you’re going to have to do something a little different stylistically in order to be able to maximize what you can do offensively and still put yourself in a situation to win. Um, the thing that’s going to contribute to them is is, you know, being able to play at that fast pace, be able to knock down shots regularly. Uh, we’ve talked about it a number of times. We that was our expectation even going today, right? So, we’re kind of getting confirmation of that from the players who have all spoken to to your point, the youth movement, the feeling that this is a younger, quicker roster. Uh, versatility being an echoing theme as well. Something that, uh, a lot of players talked about is the fact that there’s so many different players that can do so much on the ball. And that’s why I think uh, you know what, I I’m agreeing with you. I I I do think that this isn’t a team that’s going to lean into that style of play. um because it it might be born out of necessity, but it’s also one that they want to embrace and I think it’s going to be able to be what’s best for this particular group. On one hand, they might not have another option. Might just have to play fast because I don’t I’m still trying to project how this team is going to score in the half court and I’m having a little bit of a hard time doing it and that’s part of the install, right? And Eric Sper said like over the last six weeks he has been scheming. He’s been trying to build the scheme for the roster and what this and and and this personnel and you and I have had this conversation a lot. Hey, this roster is different enough. Jim Butler’s not here. Everything you thought about what the heat was, scrap it. You know, crumble it up, put it in the recycling bin. This is essentially starting from scratch. And we heard that from Spo. He talked about literally that. He’s like, I don’t care what our stats were last year. I don’t care any none of that matters. He said, “This is a new chapter.” And I was I’m glad he said it. I’m glad he just like said the thing out loud. Yes. Because it’s obviously true, right? And and it’s it speaks again to what we expected here where it’s like, yeah, we’re kind of starting from scratch here, even if a lot of like it’s still Bam, it’s still Tyler, it’s all these guys, but the roster is a very different kind of roster. It’s younger and stuff like that. So, let’s let’s do this. Let’s maybe break up the conversation this way. Pros and cons, right? Maybe kind of let’s let’s say that all of it goes the way that we want it to go here. Best, you know, uh best intentions. We follow through with the best intentions on this offense. A couple of things that stand out. We talked about maybe pillars of what this new offense could look like. We talked about tempo. They’re talking about tempo. Um they’re talking a lot about how everybody’s going to handle the ball. And they’ve been asked different players, coaches have been asked a few different times in a different kinds of ways, hey, no primary go-to guy, no primary point guard, no primary ball handler. And the answer that we keep getting is the NBA even isn’t really in that is kind of trending away from that. Yeah. And we’re kind of going to be more this egalitarian style. Everybody’s able to dribble, pass, and shoot. And again, I want to hold the my concerns here for a second and kind of try to focus on the positive first. Yes, that’s true. You look at teams like the Indiana Pacers, the Thunder, the even the Denver Nuggets, the Golden State Warriors. This is the Boston Celtics. Everybody’s able to dribble, pass, and shoot. It’s a big thing. You do need to You need everybody to be on the same page. You need everybody to be involved and when everybody eats, you do tend to get better offense. No, no doubt. Um, you know, having that kind of skilled versatility across the board certainly helps. It puts you in a position where you can do things uh differently. Certainly that that they’ve done in the past, but also just kind of lean into what your strengths are offensively. Um, at the same time, kind of mitigating and hiding some of your weaknesses defensively offensively, excuse me. The fact that you don’t have that go-to player. Um, the fact that you don’t have necessarily overpowering size. uh you can just kind of play to that level and and that kind of again puts you in opportunity helps you withstand maybe an injury to Tyler Hero where absolutely okay well we’re not asking this guy we’re not doing this heliocentric offense thing right which you wouldn’t want Tyler Hero being that kind that’s not his wouldn’t be a strength that’s um you know had you suffered an injury to that guy then you’re basically your offense kind of goes into kaput right it’s gone and uh that’s not necessarily the case now okay let’s do the other part of this yes it’s very we we talked to some people and say yeah look We were in the finals last year, which I love that they again, it’s the saying it out loud. This is what works in the NBA. We got a copy part of this. It did work for the Thunder. It did work for the Pacers, but at the end of the day, they had Shaggel Alexander, who was the MVP of the league last year, and they had Tyres Holliver. And this team doesn’t have that guy. And I get that. To me, it’s a little bit of media day fluff when we’re talking about, okay, everybody’s going to have the ball. Everybody’s going to be empowered to get to their game. I’m not saying that it’s untrue. I do think that that’s what this roster is going to have to do. My question is how much success can they have because in a close game with two minutes left, who’s getting the damn ball? Yeah, absolutely. No, it’s it’s great for again I think the foundation of what you’re trying to do offensively, but ultimately we’ve just seen too much of this throughout NBA history, even in today’s game, you still need that one go-to player who can turn things dramatically in team’s favor. And I don’t know that this player exists on this roster. And now there’s opportunities for players to step up. There’s absolutely uh a guy like Mam Deio can have those moments. Tyler Hero, we’ve seen him have those moments. Pal Norm Pal certainly too. But we can we can just have those moments. Yeah. I mean there there are players on this roster who’ve embraced that at times. But it’s not necessarily something that you can rely on or you could look to as consistently in terms of that’s your go-to player. When you need to score X is going to be able to get it and find a way to capitalize play. You know, I still I still have my question. Now, I didn’t ask what the go-to play is. I don’t know that they know what the go-to play is. That’s part of what they need to accomplish here when they installed the the the playbook and stuff in Boca Raton this week at training camp. Um, and clearly, if I had asked and they known, they probably wouldn’t have told me anyway. But, um, that is still the big question. Now, you you have the roster is what the roster is. You have the roster. I think that I think what Eric Sper is correct with and what I I think was really good to hear is he’s not really trying to nail that down right now anyway, right? Because he’s looking for a guy like Bam or Tyler or somebody else to pop at to that star level where you’re the go-to option. But even at a lesser degree where you’ve got young guys like Haime and Nico and and Kaware and all these guys on the roster, he said like I’m not put even Terry Rosier. He was asked about Terry Rosier. I think that’s what the question this answer was in response to was he was asking about Terry Rosier and what the expect is Terry going to play like what’s what’s the deal here and he basically said I haven’t made any decisions everything’s open because I have to leave it open because I need somebody I need players to pop right and he’s absolutely right like I think the key here early in the season is going to be everybody touches the ball we’re going to keep it as open as possible whoever’s got the hot hand as whatever it is we’re going to keep things we’re going to keep all avenues open because somebody on this team has to pop yeah I I mean, like, you’re hoping for that almost every season, but in this case, again, I think this is something that this roster, the way it’s currently comprised, they’re going to be more reliant on that. They’re going to have to find somebody else. And and look, there’s awareness is what’s striking to me. The honesty to just admit it like, yeah, we need that guy. They’re not saying we’re not very good, but they’re also kind of admitting we are missing something. And that’s and that’s fine. That’s exactly where you want this team to be to kind of have again that kind of level of self-awareness and recognize we’re going to have to do things differently because we don’t have player X and in this case player X is named Jimmy Butler like he is no longer on this team and so you’re going to have to find ways of doing things differently and and um I do like that. I do like that approach. It’s it’s honest. It’s refreshing and I I think it’s it’s not some of the same kind of as you said fluff that you hear about media day. It’s just you know what we we’re going to be optimistic about it. We know that players are gonna have to kind of step up and at the same time we like her chances being put in this situation and it’s interesting. It’s interesting. This team wasn’t interesting for the last two years. Well, 2000 thought it was Jimmy Butler demanding a trade. This team wasn’t interesting last year. This is interesting. It’s Hey, let’s go into every single game and see it. It feels like a young team. They were talking about being a young 2002 development team. Florida Marlins. Two years later they won the world champ or a year later they won the world championship. That’s probably the best watching Luis Castillo, watching Derek Lee, watching Alex Gonzalez. You know, these are the guys that had to step up. They’re one, they’re just they’re a Dantra Wilson, and Miguel Cabrera away. Well, maybe not to take a comparison. Cabra was a Hall of Famer, but as a Hall of Famer, but that’s what they need is they need a Hall of Famer. Yeah. And it’s rookie season. Sure. Marlins should not have gotten rid. Okay, what a segue. I had a signed Cabera in my bedroom. They traded him. Pretty sure it was fake. Um [Music] uh I guess the the point is um yes, this team needs to accomplish certain things on the court. It feels though it and everybody keeps talking about the youth and it there’s a different vibe. It’s starting it feels a little bit like a team that hasn’t accomplished anything. I don’t mean that in a good way or in a bad way. Obviously, you’ve got Bam and Tyler who have accomplished things in the league, but like it feels like a developmental team almost in a way where a young team where that’s still trying to figure out its way. It’s not quite the Washington Wizards, right? You know what I mean? I’m not trying to say that, but it it does feel like there there’s like this mystery box and sometimes the mystery box can go one of two ways. We got to go to break here, but the mystery box can go to one of two ways. It can either lead to frustration or it could lead to hope by a fan base. And based on how the start of the season goes, we’re gonna know, okay, whether or not fans are frustrated or fans are hopeful about maybe a whole new road of possibilities. So, take a quick break here and then we’ll get to uh more on this and then some of our big takeaways and teasing some of the interviews that we did here at Heat Media Day. That’s coming up next. on money. You can’t name all even what they’re worth. Whe tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use for people with busy lives. If you’ve put off organizing your finances, Monarch is for you. Monarch does heavy lifting for you. You can link all of your accounts in minutes, see clear data visuals, get smart categorization of your spending, and then finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. Don’t let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com. Just use the code locked on NBA. [Music] All right, back here from Heat Media Day. Um, anything else before we get to some of our takeaways from the interviews? No. Uh, I think just again the idea and I want to make this clear. We I think we both want to make it clear to our our viewers and listeners is that just the kind of different vibe of this team. There is that understanding that this is not what we’ve seen over the last few years from this group. Maybe some unsuress kind of baked into that. Yep. But at the same time, I think mostly a level of optimism, curiosity about where this is going to go. Not quite sure what this next phase is going to be uh as far as the heat history is concerned because this kind of feels a little bit like a stop gap year, but I don’t know if they’re looking at it from that perspective. This is not this is the kind of the the air perhaps in between superstars or at least as how they’re defined by, you know, fans. Um, and at the same time, I think they’re very positive about where they’re going to be able to accomplish this year, what they’re going to be able to do individually, and and to lead to more wins than a lot of people might expect. So, a good vibe overall, I think. I guess maybe the best way to put it is, yes, media day is always good vibes. Every contenders here, everybody just came off of their vacations. It’s school picture day. You’re looking good. Fresh haircuts. Like, we’re all Everybody’s feeling good. Yes, that is a media day staple except for last year. That was not the case last year. Have we seen this a couple years though? It’s been a couple years that I’m just It’s a different energy than it was this time last year being in this building. What was when was Emo Jimmy? That was two years ago. Was that last year? Emo Jimmy was two years ago. Last year. Last year was when Jimmy was late media day and didn’t bother to do this has been this has been two or three seasons of kind of like were we doing this again kind of thing. It it feels so much like it feels like media day and a lot of it is fluff. You have to understand that. But even last year, we didn’t have the fluff. There was no So maybe that just speaks to something. I don’t know what it speaks to, but it speaks to something. I know that. Yeah. Um All right. Individual interviews. We talked with Help Me in the gaps here. We talked with Nikol Yovic, Himez Jr., Drew Smith, Larson, Hela. Uh we talked to Precious Chew. Hey Mankas. Uh, and we haven’t talked to Kell yet, but we’re supposed to soon. Um, so I would say that we talked to a lot of the young guys and it feels like a lot of the young guys are kind of champing at the bit here about what it is that they can do. Everybody’s got ideas of what they can do. I think that they’re been for the most part pretty realistic about what they can do. We didn’t have a third string center sitting down and telling us that he’s the best center in the league this year, which is pretty good. Yeah, so far um I young guys are represent. Yeah, absolutely. Again, they talked about the the youth of this group that everybody’s kind of uh just I think that that youth is lending itself to this vibe that we’re talking about, a level of optimism um and also kind of looking forward to what they’re going to be able to accomplish. Like what are they going to be able to do? uh no one’s legacy is written in stone yet. And so they want to kind of be looking at this opportunity to help define what that next level of their career arc is going to be. Whether or not they take that superstar turn, whether or not they become that reliable role player, there’s a lot of opportunity here. Everybody’s kind of been looking behind the glass door and now there’s an opportunity where that door has opened and they’re seeing a chance for them to further define what they do for this team and and also under the overall aegis of we’re going to help this team win. So I think that’s a big part of it. Um going back to what we’re talking about with the offense too that everybody’s going to touch the ball egalitarian, everybody eats, everybody dribble, shoot pass. It feels like that’s already been communicated down. Yes. Every time we talk to any player, what do you think it’s going to look like? Dribble, shoot, pass. Everybody eats egalitarian. Everybody’s going to get a chance to touch the ball. We keep hearing that those kind of words, that’s already been communicated from the top down. That to me is a sign of what this is going to at least try to look like, right? We’ll see what ultimately happens here. Let’s get into some specifics here. Um, my biggest, maybe not my biggest takeaway, but the thing I’m thinking about right now, we spoke with Nico and we asked him what he wanted to accomplish in training camp. He said he wants to start. I think that is a training camp battle and uh Eric Spolstra during his media session said it’s a it’s open like for KL where nothing is promised. We’re going to talk with him in a few minutes here but nothing’s promised. Everybody’s got to earn it. Spec specifically that front court spot next to BAM that is open for competition between Nico and Kell. Nico told us that he wants it. I suspect Kell will tell us the same thing here in a little bit. And um that’s a that is the training camp battle to watch. Yeah, I think a lot of people would be surprised by that. Um, but at the same time, is there a poss? No, you can’t. I was just going to say, is there a possibility where all three of them could play on the court at the same time? You’ve been on it. Uh, I don’t think you can. I’m wondering if you get to a point where none of them are on the court. Just put Wigs at the four. Well, with the addition of Precious Sua, does that change things a little bit in terms of Do you feel more comfortable going to the three center lineup? Uh, in that sense, I mean, we talked to Nico. He’s like, I’m not really a small forward and he would have to be the small forward in that lineup. [Music] That’s fair. Look, okay, I So, let’s just say it’s probably down to wear or Nico at this point, and that’s fine. Um, I’m a little surprised to see that kind of direct statement from Nico saying that he wants to openly challenge more. I love it. Yeah, I love it. He’s like, I I I asked him point blank, what do you want? He’s like, I want the starting challenge. Yes. Go out there. You know what Tyler Herro gets a lot of credit for? Saying that he wants to start, saying that he wants to be an allar. You know what he did? He became a starter and he became an all-star and now nobody quite nobody that come Tyler here would be better come off a bench. Nobody talks about that anymore. Not a thing anymore. The alternative would be far worse. He’s like, you know, I just want to fit in. It’s like what the hell are you doing here? If that’s all you want to do. Say that though because they don’t want to make waves. That’s not afraid to do it. No, you got to love the confidence. And I think he recognizes a strong Euro basket tournament. Uh playing with, as he said, the best player on the planet. Reiterated that a number of times uh and and be was able to learn from him. So definitely an interview you should go check out. That was maybe my favorite one. Not you should listen to all of them. Watch all of them. Um I think that was my favorite one with what he was talking about playing with Jokic I think is fascinating from a hundred different ways. Yeah. But just as a basketball fan. Yeah. And being like what is it really like to play with this guy? He was like this is what it’s like to play. I thought it was so interesting his perspective on that. And you hope that he’s able to kind of learn from that. Like we talked to him, we talked to Pelle. um both of them indicated that what they do over the offseason and in terms of Euro basket is something that’s translatable and it could add to their respective roles here in Miami. So I think there’s a lot of optimism with those two players specifically and whether or not they kind of take on a bigger role perhaps even a starting role depending on what happens there. But I I it’s it’s not just talk for the sake of talk. I mean I think Spolster did a pretty good job of saying you know what everything is wide open. Uh wear has as good a much of chance as anybody. Um, but it’s not limited to just these are the guys who started last year. These are the guys who are going to continue to start next year. Now, it’s not going to at all. It’s can you step up? Can you be that player that earns this and works towards this goal? And if so, then you’ll be rewarded. And it doesn’t like the challenge is out there. It doesn’t mean that Kell or Nico haven’t lived up to any sort of set expectations or anything. It’s just that hey, we stunk last year. There’s no reason to keep anything the way it was. It’s open for competition, right? And um you know, we’ve heard a couple of times from uh from people around Kell like players, coaches, whatever. Yes, we coach him hard, but also yes, he responds to the coaching just fine. And I think we saw that in Vegas when Spo called him out. Something that you referenced today during his session. Called him out and we saw the way that Kell responded and it was very positive and I think that you feel good about that. But said something similarly too that he’s kind of hard on Khil because he just expects more of him. So you know what that’s that’s great. You want to hear that. Uh that was another big takeaway for me is just uh I think a lot of people looking at BAM’s evolution as a mentor and leader and I think that’s going to be a big part of it now again without Jimmy Butler or without maybe some of those older veterans like Kyle Lowry who takes on the mantle of leadership for a group that basically has never been asked to do so. There’s no UD in this locker room. There’s no 36 37 year old veteran that says you know what I I can do this for this group. So, uh, is Bam up for the challenge? And another player in one of our individual interviews spoke about taking on more of a leadership role himself. So, that’s definitely worth checking out. He’s u those are our big takeaways. Just a quick tie a bow on it here. Talhiro optimistic about his return. We’re looking at 8 to 12 weeks realistically. Don’t hold them to the six week thing that you might see aggregated and taken not necessarily out of context, but tell her to return by end of October, right? Tell her tomorrow. Um, no. Optimistic. Everything seems to be going well. That’s takeway there. I think we’re scrapped. Everything from last year in terms of playbooks. Everything is scrapped. We’re looking at something brand new in terms of your offensive system, maybe even defensive schemes. Eric Bolster basically said he threw everything away. The last six weeks he’s been scheming up stuff. So, that’s what I’m looking for there. In training camp, we’ll probably get a lot of new things installed. And then, as well as the big training camp battle, Nikolovic versus Kaware, who’s going to start alongside Bam Adabio. I don’t even know how that much that even frankly matters, David, because we’ve seen this team use a 100 different starting lineups in a course of a season anyway, but whatever. Um, that’s a big thing to watch over the course of next week. Maybe we’ll do another episode with some other kind of empty the notebook smaller takeaways. Yeah. Who who pops? Who’s your guest? Like we we know there’s always the name of somebody that’s everybody’s kind of buzzing about in training camp. I think it’s Nico. Okay. I think Nico I think we’re going to get the best year of Nico’s career is my guess. I I kind of tend to agree. I’m kind of looking at Haime as well as another guy who’s it looks like he’s energized and ready to bounce back. So, those are the two guys that I’m looking forward to seeing what we hear about them in training camp because I think it’s going to be a good year for both of them. Thanks for tuning in. Locked on heat straight from Miami Heat Media Day. We’ll have a ton more episodes for you later this week. The standard, you know, episodes that we do, plus all of the interviews that we did here at Media Day, those will be posted to your feed within the next couple days. Thanks for listening.

Coming to you from Miami Heat media day, Wes Goldberg and David Ramil discuss their biggest takeaways after talking with Erik Spoelstra, Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo and more.

Herro sounds optimistic about his return timeline, Spoelstra discusses a new scheme and various players sit down for exclusive interviews.

0:00 Intro
1:30 New vibes
12:00 Spoelstra talks new scheme
22:00 Jovic vs Ware for starting spot

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