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Heat’s Jovic again dealing with loss of minutes: ‘Can’t say I kind of didn’t expect it’
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- Heat’s Jovic again dealing with loss of minutes: ‘Can’t say I kind of didn’t expect it’
ATLANTA — It turns out that even with a revised roster, the game is the same for Nikola Jovic. He might play; he might not.
After dwindling minutes over the Heat's first three games, there were none for the 2022 first-round pick out of Serbia in the fourth game, Monday night's home loss to the Dallas Mavericks .
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That again had him heading into the great unknown as the Heat turned their attention to Wednesday night's game against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.
"I mean, I've been going through similar stuff before so I can't say I kind of didn't expect it," Jovic said after Wednesday morning's shooaround. "The more you get used to that stuff, the easier it gets."
In the opener, there were 24 minutes in the home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. In the second game, there were 13 in the home loss to the Detroit Pistons. The following night, only six minutes in the road loss to the Charlotte Hornets . And then none Monday against the Mavericks, when his minutes instead went to point guard Dru Smith.
"I'm still trying to find that spot for Niko," coach Erik Spoelstra said Wednesday morning." So this is different than last year, because he's been giving us good minutes. But we felt that we needed a little bit more perimeter based with Dru, to be able to set everybody else in their normal positions.
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"But I did extend our frontcourt big minutes the other night, so Niko is still fully in the mix. I just have to figure it out."
As Jovic noted, this is nothing new, bouncing between big minutes and no minutes throughout his Heat career, partly because of ineffectiveness, partly because of better-fitting options, as is the case with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo and Bobby Portis at the top of the power rotation.
For Jovic, 23, the messaging has remained consistent.
"Just stay ready," he said. "They told me that they were going to try and play someone else in my minutes. So, simple."
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Only, not so simple with Jovic beginning the first year of a four-year, $62.4 million extension, with the fourth-highest salary on the payroll.
Before Monday's benching, most of Jovic's minutes had come alongside Antetokounmpo, making him the rare player to have seen extensive action with two of the game's preeminent passing big men in Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets center who is his teammate on Serbia's national team.
"At the end, it's similar," Jovic said of the adjustment to playing with Antetokounmpo. "They always have a few guys on them, and they use similar spots. Giannis is more in transition, like, from top to the basket, and Jokic is already ducking in around the basket. So it's similar. At the end, they're all ending up in the same places."
Which requires spacing, with Jovic through the first week of the season 0 for 3 on 3-pointers and 3 of 10 from the field, entering Wednesday night.
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The Smith factor
As for Smith, Spoelstra spoke of energy being added to the equation.
"He's elite in terms of his ability to be disruptive defensively, whether he's on the ball or off the ball with his deflections, his anticipation for steals," Spoelstra said. "And we need to get our defense stabilized, and he's a big part of our defense, particularly that second unit."
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Smith said he appreciates the mandate.
"I think just to be myself, just try to get the ball in the place where it needs to be, that kind of thing," he said, "continue to bring it on the defensive end. Just try to bring some energy, bring some life."
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Having missed the entire preseason due to a calf injury, Monday's 15 minutes against the Mavericks were his first rotation minutes of the season.
"I was still at practice every day just watching, even if I was doing my rehab," Smith said of his hurried learning curve. "I made sure that I was always in the gym. So not too much learning.
"I think the system is pretty similar to what we were doing last year. So just trying to continue to implement those things. And then more than anything, just trying to find Giannis."
No Fontecchio
After not traveling with the team Tuesday, Simone Fontecchio remained in Miami and missed the Hawks game due to illness, as the lone Heat player unavailable in Atlanta.
