{"id":184501,"date":"2025-07-21T01:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T01:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/184501\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T01:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T01:35:09","slug":"heat-notes-lineups-jakucionis-summer-league-askins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/184501\/","title":{"rendered":"Heat Notes: Lineups, Jakucionis, Summer League, Askins"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Heat haven\u2019t had as active an offseason as some teams, but their moves have opened up some interesting options for head coach Erik Spoelstra, Ira Winderman writes<\/a> for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.<\/p>\n

Winderman speculates that the opening night starting lineup will likely feature Tyler Herro<\/a> and Norman Powell<\/a> in the backcourt alongside Andrew Wiggins<\/a>, Kel\u2019el Ware<\/a>, and Bam Adebayo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, he notes the unit\u2019s lack of playmaking, which could result in either Nikola Jovic<\/a> taking the place of Ware or Davion Mitchell<\/a> replacing Powell to add some more ball movement. Ware moving to the bench would also help firm up the center depth, which Winderman points to as a current weak spot on the depth chart, though Vlad Goldin<\/a>, who is on a two-way deal, played well in Summer League.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the question of who becomes prioritized off the bench between Simone Fontecchio<\/a>, Jaime Jaquez<\/a> Jr.<\/a>, and Pelle Larsson<\/a>. Winderman predicts that Jaquez will continue to get opportunities, especially because of his ability to slide into the starting unit if Wiggins were to be traded.<\/p>\n

We have more from the Heat:<\/p>\n

While rookie Kasparas Jakucionis<\/a>\u2018 time in Summer League had some strong moments as well as clear areas of improvement, the Heat feel that the most important thing is that they came away knowing what comes next, writes Anthony Chiang for the Miami Herald<\/a>. \u201cWe got to learn him, he got to learn us. We got some stuff on tape. And now we have seven, eight weeks to get him better, to get him ready for the start of the season and to improve his skills,\u201d said Summer League head coach Eric Glass. \u201cIt\u2019s important to have that learning process and help him understanding as a 19-year-old what it\u2019s going to be like to play professional basketball against grown men in the NBA.\u201d Jakucionis struggled with his shot and with turnovers, but excelled at getting to the free-throw line. He will now head back to Lithunaia before returning to Miami in early August.
\nThe Heat are known for excavating diamonds from the rough when it comes to teambuilding, but this year\u2019s Summer League didn\u2019t offer the team the usual hope at unearthing hidden talent, writes Winderman<\/a>. That said, Winderman points to Bryson Warren<\/a>, Dain Dainja<\/a>, Ki<\/a>ra Lewis<\/a> Jr<\/a>., Javonte Cooke<\/a>, Erik Stevenson<\/a>, and Myron Gardner<\/a> as players who had some real positive moments for the team.
\nBefore the Heat had Pat Riley<\/a>, Dwyane Wade<\/a>, or Udonis Haslem<\/a>, there was Keith Askins, Winderman writes<\/a> in a profile of the team\u2019s senior director of college and pro scouting. The undrafted forward has been in the organization for 35 years, first as a player, than an assistant coach, then in a role helping shape the building of the team.\u201dI hope to find someone that\u2019s extremely talented of that mindset, that they\u2019ve got to prove themselves every day,\u201d Askins says of the type of player he looks for. \u201cAnd if they feel like every day they come out they\u2019ve got to prove they\u2019re the best, man we\u2019re going to have a stud.\u201d Winderman describes Askins traveling from Slovenia to the Bahamas to American colleges nowhere close to being considered blue blood programs. \u201cWe all try to get it right. Sometimes you do and sometimes you don\u2019t. But you can never say we\u2019re not working hard,\u201d Askins says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Heat haven\u2019t had as active an offseason as some teams, but their moves have opened up some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,33276,30496,27633,144,24563,229,33277,15538,295,189,3881,30690,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-184501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-heat","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bryson-warren","10":"tag-eric-glass","11":"tag-erik-stevenson","12":"tag-heat","13":"tag-javonte-cooke","14":"tag-kasparas-jakucionis","15":"tag-keith-askins","16":"tag-kira-lewis","17":"tag-miami","18":"tag-miami-heat","19":"tag-miamiheat","20":"tag-myron-gardner","21":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114888659850109761","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}