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Foul ball has Heat’s Goldin appreciating need for summer statement
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- Foul ball has Heat’s Goldin appreciating need for summer statement
Summer league often is about the numbers that jump off the page, top draft picks putting up video-game statistics, unknowns filling box scores at unanticipated rates — and then there are the numbers unique to July.
So, yes, assuredly a double-take when it came to Vlad Goldin's line in the Miami Heat's second of three games at the California Classic.
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Nine fouls.
Such is a forgiving aspect of the NBA's summer circuit, where even with games reduced from the regular season's 48 minutes to 40, players are not disqualified until the 10th foul, four more than the regular-season limit.
Unforgiving, however, is the reality that Goldin, the 7-footer who helped lead Florida Atlantic University to the 2023 NCAA Tournament Final Four, is in a tenuous position with the Heat, after spending last season on a Heat two-way contract as a rookie.
This time, there only is a Heat qualifying offer in place, one that yet could be rescinded.
On one hand, games such as Sunday night's 93-91 double-overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers' summer roster show the imposing presence the beefy Russian native can provide, with four blocked shots and numerous other attempts altered. But the foul rate simply wouldn't play from October through April.
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"I mean, that's a big emphasis for Vlad," said assistant coach Wayne Ellington, who is guiding the Heat summer roster. "We want him as close to the paint as possible on every defensive possession, protecting the paint, protecting the rim. He's continuing to get better and better at it.
"Obviously, we got to continue to work with him and develop him on doing it with discipline. But he did show flashes. He had four blocks, so that's a plus for him. He's only going to continue to get better at it."
With the opportunities to continue, the Heat following up Monday night's finale at the California Classic in San Francisco against the Golden State Warriors' summer squad with at least five games starting Friday in Las Vegas at the NBA Summer League.
Goldin is aware of both what he is up against and what is possible. With Kel'el Ware sent out to the Milwaukee Bucks in the trade that is bringing in Giannis Antetokounmpo , a case could be made of the Heat not having a true center on their current standard roster.
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For Goldin, at best it likely will be another two-way contract. But even that could stand as a significant building block.
"I'm excited, like, a lot," said Goldin, who went undrafted out of Michigan in 2025. "Just being, like, able to be in a place where I am right now, that's all I want.
"It's amazing to do something that you love to do and have an opportunity to do it on the highest level."
The knock on Goldin coming out of the draft was being slow-footed. That has left both he and the Heat working on workarounds.
"Miami is obviously, like, they want to play tough. They want to be a team that can get a stop, and that's something that I try to," he said.
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There also is hope of being somewhat of a floor spacer, having worked on taking his game to the 3-point line, where he had a degree of success at the close of his college career.
"I try to be able to space the floor, as well," he said of an offensive game mostly limited to dunks and putback baskets. "There's not one thing at work. There are so many things. But, my two main focuses are defense and spacing the floor."
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was clear in his directives after Goldin's rookie season, one largely spent in the G League as a developmental prospect.
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"I mean, it's not a secret," Goldin said of that conversation. "It's being a better defensive player, because there are so many offensive players in the league and there are a lot of players who can make tough shots. But good defenders, they always have a chance to be in the rotation.
"And last time we talked, he told me I need to be a little bit quicker, be a better defender, off ball and on ball, So that's what I tried to improve."
