Three takeaways from Miami Heat opener: Dru, Ware/Jovic and European style | Five on the Floor

Three takeaways from Miami Heat opener: Dru, Ware/Jovic and European style | Five on the Floor

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[Music] Day count. Be patient. Stay proud. [Applause] Welcome to Five on the Floor, a daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA featuring Ethan Skolnick, Greg Sander, Alex Toledo, Brady Hawk, and others from the Five Reason Sports Network. Also, make sure to subscribe to Off the Floor for the most heat anywhere. Here’s today’s floor plan. I’m Ethan Skolnick. You can follow me at Ethan J Skolick and at Five Reason Sports. I got Greg Sander. You can follow him at Greg Savander. The Miami Heat lose their preseason opener in Puerto Rico. Be coming back to play a preseason game here on Monday. Then they got the scrimmage. It’s a little bit of an odd kind of format uh this year because they went to Puerto Rico early. Of course, several players did not play in this game. Some on the Magic side. They still don’t have Jaylen Suggs. They didn’t have uh Mo Vagner is still out. Fran Vagner didn’t play last night either. Uh on the Heat side, not a lot of guards. Uh obviously Tyler Herro is still out. Uh Casper Hakashonis is still out. Um who else is still out now? Uh I’m sorry. Lo Mitchell. DaVon Mitchell. Pella Larson. Whole bunch of guys. All the guards. All the guards except a couple. And and I want to start here before we go anywhere else because I just think we should say this and or I should say this and then we’re actually going to run the podcast interview with him that we did on media day which I thought was really thoughtful and one of our better ones and I’m kind of upset we waited. Uh but we’re going to run it now because it’s actually going to be uh appropriate. So after you listen to this, just wait later in the day this one will pop up. Um it’s just remarkable that Drew Smith was playing last night. I just gonna start there. um whatever you thought of him as a player when he first came in and you know sort of all the jokes that he was just Spo’s guy and nobody can understand why Spo was you know so enamored with him and why he survived this cut and that cut and why they brought him back and then he tears his ACL and why they brought him back and then he tears his Achilles and why they brought him back. I mean, for him to be on the court, like I I mean, this and he didn’t play badly either. Like, it’s this is um it it’s really it’s it’s such a tribute to him and I you know, when you get a chance to talk to him as we did and you just hear how thoughtful he is about the situation and you know what he puts his faith in and you know, everybody has their own you know support system. In his case, it seems to be his family and his faith. uh is I mean I he’s just someone on this roster I don’t think you can help but root for. I it’s I mean to come back from an ACL and an Achilles in successive years and as Spoler said the other day, he says his his superpower is resilience. I they didn’t gift him this spot either and they they didn’t he earned it with his play last season and they were better team during that stretch when he was on the floor. I just I just to me that’s my number one takeaway last night is that this guy being on the floor at all was amazing. Yeah. And it’s sooner than I expected. But also uh I think it immediately indicates to me that Drew Smith is likely to be a rotation player and it could just be in the backup guard capacity, you know what I mean? But he even could be trusted to start in certain moments if you see uh their that injuries rack up. Spo trusts him. And so one thing I guess a takeaway from this um and it’s early so let’s just re we can we all recognize that. But if Drew Smith can be a rotation level player and you’ve kind of locked him into a three-year deal at around a minimum type salary that’s using uh the salary cap wisely. So, I just I it is a testament to him to get back out there and he’s had a great training camp, but for him to be playing, he played 10 minutes, so you know, they’re easing him back in. He had a two steals and a block or two blocks in a steel, one or the other. Um, I got to go look at the box score again, but he you just automatically could see that he made a difference and Spolster is going to lean into that guy. So that it was just great to see him back on the court and um now he doesn’t have to worry about getting cut uh unless they don’t pick up those guaranteed years and future seasons, but they tend to want to keep him around. Yeah. No, I mean I think they’re going to keep him around. I I don’t I just think he’s going to be one of these guys that you just assume is is going to be there and then the question is what his role is based on the given year. And I I don’t really want to put anything past him. Obviously, he doesn’t have like elite elite athleticism. talked uh to us on the podcast about the differences the way he defends and the way DaVon defends. The fact that Spo has the option of going to both of them this year because Davon was acquired after Drew got hurt and now if you have a situation where guards just getting off against you, you can go to this, you know, these these two defensive demons. I mean, you can put out a lineup this year of well, I don’t want to say where right now because we’re going to talk about him. Uh, but you can put out a lineup right now that includes Bam, includes Wiggins, includes DaVon, and includes Drew Smith. Um, that there’s some things that you can do with that. And, you know, Spolster has a lot of variability, I think, with the lineups this year and with the rotation and how he plays it, even if we kind of see nine guys or 10 guys once Tyler’s healthy. But I the Drew Smith thing is just amazing to me and I just think he deserves his flowers uh for sure uh this year. Like that’s somebody that like my daughter was looking for a jersey. That’s somebody’s jersey I would look to get. I just I just I think he embodies everything that you you kind of want an athlete to embody these days. All right, number two. Let’s get to the decision that was made last night to start Yovic over wear. And first, can I have a moment of applause or something? Yeah, you were right. I I thought it would be wear and autobio from jump because that’s how they went last year. And I should have known that that Cleveland series when when Spo says that it was humiliating and uh he wasn’t burned out, he just was embarrassed by what happened, that’s going to be a reflection of his future decision-making and this was the first step of that. Uh, I know you’re gonna lean into more of what Nico looked like because there were some really fun moments from from Yovic in particular, but a huge takeaway for me was that Bam and Wear did not play one minute together. So, this was like where was basically Bam’s backup. Yeah. And I think that’s where it’s going to start. Um, I don’t think that it’s going to be exclusive. I I do think they’re going to play together and I think you’re going to look at kind of a rotation of the three of them. I Precious may get some minutes here or there, but I I really think they’re going to lean into Bamware and Yovic, but also uh there was a sequence last night and I sent it to you guys. There’s somebody who listens to the podcast religiously. He’s actually kind of an I appreciate he’s a friend of mine. He’s also kind of an icon in South Florida uh in some ways. I’ll I’ll explain to you later, Greg, how um but uh he sent me a video of of 16 seconds of one possession and where’s defense on it and basically not moving. I Hey, let’s even take it a step further. When you sent the clip to us, uh Alex wrote back, “Why are you sending us clips of Hassan Whitide?” Right. I I I mean this clip was and my friend finished it off with a clip was he was narrating to me because he’s trying to make a point. He’s a Yovich guy and I don’t I don’t want to make this uh you know we had Khell on the podcast. I hope people listen to it and it’s on there. I was trying to get him to tell me more about his trip from Egypt. He didn’t seem to want to tell me. But he we we you know we got into a little bit of basketball there and I he’s a likable guy. This is nothing about that. It’s just that and I don’t want to make this, you know, pitting two players against each other, but the the reason I thought that Yovic was going to start other than just a fit with Bam and additionally, uh, you know, the fact now that Tyler’s out that you need kind of that offensive creativity and in the in the starting lineup is just that where still has too many of these moments. Uh, and you know, my friend clipped this and it’s it’s 16 seconds long and it’s it’s just like a lolly gag special. Like it’s the he’s not doing anything. He’s he’s he lets a guy blow by. At first thing he gets dunked on, but it’s it’s before that in the possession that he’s not moving. And this is exactly what I watched in that summer league game that after which Spolster talked about the lack of professionalism which doesn’t which wasn’t just about that game but it it was that game I think kind of it was on Spo’s mind because Spo was Spo did an interview with NBA TV that day from Courtzside okay at the big arena in in Vegas and or and so you know this this was hard to watch. And if this is what it’s going to be, then there’s going to be some nights he plays 12 minutes. I suppos him in again, right? Yeah. That this is how this goes where if a player makes the has the mental lapses on defense specifically, it it will drive Spolstra crazy. And I just think that he’s going to lean into the guys he can trust. And but where has an opportunity? He’s responded to a lot of the calls so far. I think that this was a a game where I obviously and as was documented in the 16 second clip that that you sent and we’ll probably have to get that clip on Discord so that people know what we’re talking about. I put it up. No, I know. I I I did it. It’s it’s on host updates from last night. I I’m loathed to put it on Twitter. Yeah. Because because because they need to sub off the floor. Well, a Yes, we like the money. That’s the first thing. But but the second reason I’m loathed to put it on on Twitter is because you and I both know because we dealt with this firsthand that when I put a clip on Twitter over the summer, which was just me walking into a practice and just filming whatever I saw and there was that clip of where and Golden going one-on-one and where looked totally disengaged in that entire thing and I posted it on Twitter and we know he saw it because he didn’t react very, you know, positively to it, understandably. Uh, I post whatever it is that I see when I come in because we don’t get to see a lot. So, I’ll post this. If he had dunked on somebody, I would have posted that, too. I just happen to post that and it got like a thousand likes and it got his attention. So, I’m not trying to do that again. Again, that there’s no there’s no agenda here. No. And it’s one game. So, like we’re we we’re not gonna overreact, but it it is these are the kinds of things if we’re going to make anything of the preeason and obviously we’re in the business of of analyzing what does take place, those lapses are going to earn him less minutes and less trust. And uh we’re not going to keep piling on Kel Wear all day in this show, but that was definitely um when you just see him and Bam completely split up. I guess there’s certain matchups where you’re going to put them together and maybe with no guards, Nico had to be out there because they need his uh creative skills as you mentioned, but uh you would think you’d see at least a couple minutes of it. And so that’s something to continue to monitor. How much Bam and where will we see? And how wrong was Greg when he said that those two would start the season next to each other? Well, I your your rationale on it made sense in the idea that you give him the starting spot, you give him this carrot. Okay. Uh but they have obviously a seen enough of Nico. Yeah. They paid him. They pay him, right, to know, okay, we got and I look, I’ve said there’s a chance Nico could be one of their three best players this year. And I I still believe that. And and so mindblowing to me. I I haven’t fully wrapped my head around the implications of Nico really taking that leap. I haven’t talked about it enough, but uh it’s it would be a game changer if he actually is top three player on this team. Yes. No, no, you’re right though. It would be a game changer. It’s a total X factor for them because if that’s the case, assuming what you’re, you know, you’re going to get from Bam, uh, at least on one end of the floor and what he also contributes on the other and what Hero, uh, is going to provide offensively, I’m basically saying that there’s a chance that Nico could be more impactful than Norm Powell or Andrew Wiggins. And I can tell you, and I thought Wiggins was good last night, too, but I can tell you that there are he people who think Norm’s going to be an all-star this year. So, what I’m basically saying is that I think from an impact standpoint in terms of overall game, I think Nico could be, okay, I think he’s going to be top five. I don’t think there’s any question to that, but I think he could be as high as number three for them. And so, again, I don’t want to overplay the wear thing here because I I don’t want to spend the whole season pitting them against each other, and I think people think I am. Um, and I got I want to be careful of that. But, you have one guy that it just seems has gotten it. Okay. And they’re pay they paid him like he got it. and the other guy who hasn’t gotten it consistently. And it it is going to drive Spoke crazy. And I also think that’s one of the reasons why they brought in a guy like Precious. It’s not just that they needed an extra player in the front court. Precious plays hard. Okay. Whatever his limitations are, he plays hard. Okay. And and so and now he’s on a make good contract which is going to get him to play harder. And I would not be stunned. I I’m just putting this out there. If Wear is going to do what he did on that possession last night with any kind of consistency, there’s going to be a game early in the season where that second half instead of Wear coming off the bench, Precious comes off the bench. And that’s going to end up being a podcast topic and I’m just laying it out there because that possession was gross. It’s just and I just look in our Discord, but it is everything that drives Eric Spolstra insane and drove him insane about Hassan Whiteside. It’s just like he’s just wandering around and then ultimately you really can trace that entire possession to him not giving effort and that if if that’s going to happen again this ain’t going to be about what I I say it’s going to be about what uh the longest tenure coach in the NBA says and that’s going to be playing pressure to Chua in the second half of a game. I’m just that’s that’s that’s where it’s going. Anyway, let’s get off of it. We’ll talk about something else on the other I’m sorry that clip just like it’s jarring. It is. It’s really bad. Let’s hope that he comes out and is uh full of energy in the next game on Monday. I mean, Alex’s comment, I mean, our our our threat he’s going to be angry that I shared that with our listeners, but you know what? That’s why the the the loyalists that are listening to this show off the heels of the Canes game. Um, we appreciate you. Yeah, exactly. We just gave you something. All right, there you go. Go to our Discord. All right, we do want to tell you about a great sponsor, the Five Reason Sports Center. I mean, I’m telling you, like that possession last night was the kind of possession that might drive you, you know, to have a couple of uh of drinks today. And and if you do, if you do, you got to try this game-changing product called Pre-alcohol. Pre- Alcohol from Ziotics. The probiotic drink. The world’s first genetically engineered probiotic. 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Ziotics is backed with 100% money back guarantee. So if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, they’ll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to ziotics.com onthe floor and use the code on the floor checkout for 15% off. Okay. Uh let’s get Why don’t you give me your third? What what was your third last night? They actually did try to play faster and we should acknowledge that. Um it is it’s hard to quantify particularly when you look at Orlando got so many more shots at the basket, but they did off of um not just turnovers, but off of stops. They tried to get out and get passes ahead um so that there was early offense. I’m not going to call it fast break heavy or anything like that, but they did uh do things earlier. Um, a few different people have noted it. I think Coupe wrote about it on the Miami Heat site. They shared that this morning. Uh, so that that’s a takeaway because we always wonder, are they going to actually increase in pace? We’ll see if the whole league because this is the thing and you you said this the other day like that it’s a copycat league. We’re going to see if Pace, like everyone wants to do what Indiana or they’re going to try to do what Indiana does if you don’t have one of those upper echelon stars and play faster. So, is that going to just be the trend leaguewide? We’ll see. But it it was noticeable that they tried to get out and run. Um, and we’ll just see if they had the horses to do that in a sustained fashion throughout a whole year. Yeah. And I asked BPO the question at training camp and I said, you know, you players always say they want to run. You always say that they want to run until they say they want to run until you tell them to run. And then his quote was players are full of crap. Uh I I think that this this gets conflated sometimes and I I’m glad you noticed it last night because there is this idea that you need a bunch of track stars to be able to run. That’s not what this team has and it’s not really what Spo is getting at. He just wants them to play faster. It doesn’t necessarily mean sprint faster. Yes, some sprinting is involved in that, but it’s also quicker decisions. Uh, you know, getting the ball out of your hands. Honestly, he wants them to play more of European style and they they say they want to play more of European style and suddenly they are a European laced team. Okay, they I mean, we we’re at we’re at media day and you know who walks in? It’s it’s Vonteio, it’s Larsson, it’s Yoic. I mean they have leaned into this in a significant way and even if some of the players weren’t born in a foreign country they play for their countries overseas uh and so they get you know that becomes part of you know what they bring to the game and I you know this is this has been an incredible transformation that we don’t talk about enough. I mean the man who who quoteunquote runs this organization although we know it’s more of a collective now stayed away from any European players for basically two decades. I mean, he he he got two and he’s mentioned Martin Murray, who was a disaster first round pick. Somebody I know ran into Martin Murray about a year ago. I was like, that’s a name I hadn’t heard. And I I know Pat mentioned him in press, but also very early on he with the heat, he brought in Sasha Denilovich. Yeah. Um who I just remember for chain smoking, but he also was he also was a pretty good shooter, but not I don’t know, didn’t seem all that engaged in what was going on. And so these couple of exper and Vashan Leonard ended up beating him out and taking his spot if if you recall and become bigger part of that team. But if you if you look at uh you know what what he’s what has happened here is like from not taking any of them he has gone completely the other direction and eur the European style is the ball doesn’t stick it you you don’t it’s not a lot of ISO and this is what Yovic and and I again recommend everybody listen to the the interview he did with us on media day was talking about he said we have to play faster he didn’t say we have to run faster he said we have to play faster And that’s another reason to cycle back on this. Why have I’ve been so bullish on Yoic this year because I just think I can see the lineups. We talk about the defensive lineups, Greg. And you talk about you can throw Drew Smith out there with Daviana, with Wiggins, and with Bam, but there’s also some offensive lineups that Spoke can go to, uh, where he can have Tyler out there with with Yoic, with Bam. You think they’ll play much five out this year? Like, do you think they can get to that with their lineups? I think they can. And I think when you have Norm and Tyler out there, I think that you can do that. Um, and I think you you Bam can space now and and Nico can space. Now, the question is, can can Larson space? Can some can Hake space? This is where I I I want, you know, again, I’m still trying to figure out what the role for Haime is. Uh, because I it doesn’t really fit with either. But I do think if he does get back to, and I hope people listen to the podcast he did with us, he does get back to just going downhill, then I think as a change of pace guy for certain runs that he can find some opportunities. But I I see them as having like this kind of defensive group and then I see them having this kind of offensive European everybody’s in motion, balls out quick. And Spo has played this way before prior to um the COVID break. Okay. if you remember the 1920 season and he did that with Jimmy who again we know like to slow things down. Okay, I mean he he good passer but not an elite passer, not a LeBron level passer. Um and like to get to the line but you know he did this he did this with with Jimmy out there and he did that with Kendrick Nun out there. Kendrick Nun as we know was a ball stopper. I mean, he could score, but he was a ball stopper. And he had Tyler as a rookie and Dragic, of course, who was kind of the Heat’s intro to real high level European ball, right? Okay. But this also feeds into but he did it that year. I mean, he that that be prior to the CO break, they had a three three-we struggle prior to COVID, but before that, that ball was popping. They the offense was top 10 and he can get he has more of those guys with this group. But the other thing is on this and we didn’t get to see him last night, but if they’re able to develop Hakachonis, did I pronounce it incorrectly? Yakonis, just call him Cass. Okay, it’s Sunday morning. I need a Z biionics. Okay. Okay. If they if they develop him this style, oh, it leans into his strengths kind of completely. Completely. And that’s so I I think that if you see where they’re going, it’s pretty obvious and it’s pretty obvious why certain guys won’t fit as well. And the guys who I think will struggle to fit in that kind of situation are Hakez where it goes without saying, but Rosier is kind of the absolute opposite of that style. Um, and I and I think the guys who will fit are Yoic, Larson, um, you know, I think Tyler. I do think Bam can play any style. I think Norm can play any style. I think Wiggins can adjust to it and he can be the beneficiary of that style at the end of possessions. Uh, but uh, Cass will be the ultimate beneficiary of that style and I think that’s its final form honestly. and Adam Simon turned to Spo on draft night and said, “I got you your point guard.” I think was the was what he said out loud. So, it’s interesting also to see the way that the scouting team uh the scouting department specifically has started to funnel in guys and uh and you’re seeing the influence of a guy like Adam Simon who really went um he was a big Nico proponent and now to see that start to come to fruition um it’s huge. The the other thing before we kind of wrap up on one preseason game because we’re going to do it all all again Monday. I also think that um Myron Gardner. Yeah. And and there’s a the the young guy Trevor Kees, he he was four for four from the field. These are guys we should watch. I think Myron Gardner is going to get he’s going to keep the two-way spot he has, but he played really good yesterday. And um that was something that in summer league people were a little unsure of why he would stick around, but he’s looked uh he looked good in this game and he’s had a great camp by all indications. He he looks like a uh a typical Heat kind of find honestly and uh we had him on the podcast uh very very pleasant um you know and we may run some of that stuff uh here as we go but I I he just focused on defense. He wants a guard. I that’s that’s the thing. And that’s why they he’s he was attractive to them uh for the most part is he has the athletic ability to do it and I they they can probably you know he’s another of these guys they’re going to mold. They’re look and we’ll close it here. The the European style is nice and that is where I think they’re going but they also want some dogs on defense. Like that is that’s the I think this is the the parody they’re the duality they’re trying to establish is we we’ve got we got a group of guys on that just want to guard. Okay. And we got a group of guys that the ball’s going to pop and then it’s up to Spo to kind of figure out what to deploy when. And it shouldn’t it shouldn’t be any surprise and I said this over the summer. It shouldn’t be any surprise with as much time as Eric Spoler has spent scouting and coaching in highlevel international competition that this is what he was going to bring back. And it’s a little bit of Pacers, okay, that Rick Carlo deserves enormous credit for changing the way that he’s played over the years and he really is at the forefront of a lot of this. Uh, and he’s a terrific coach. She’s a top five coach in the NBA in my view and I know Spo has respect for him which obviously goes back to 2011 among Indiana should have never fired him the first time. Never should have fired him the first time and I don’t think Dallas and I don’t think Dallas should have fired him either, but that it is what it is. But Spo um I know has respect for him and regard for him, but I think this is an amalgamation of all of these kind of things. So So we’ll see. Anyway, we did 28 minutes on a on a post preseason pod on a on a uh on a Sunday morning. So, hope you take it in. Uh, this is for your Sunday and this is also since you don’t have to watch Dolphins Panthers. Have a good day everybody. Thank you for listening to the five on the floor on the five reason sports network. After all, someone needs to listen to my dad.

With the Miami Heat’s first preseason game — a loss to Orlando in Puerto Rico — complete, Ethan Skolnick and Greg Sylvander examine the notable trends going forward.

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