Nikola Jovic’s development and surge into the starting lineup was one of the Miami Heat’s biggest bright spots last season.
While he’s made gradual developments with his sheer strength, 3-point shooting and on-ball defense, Jovic recently opened up to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel about a different aspect of his game that’s tried to improve most this offseason.
“I would say the biggest thing I was working on the most was when I’m working in the low post, when I have a smaller guy on me, I just have to punish them,” Jovic said. “That’s something I think will help our team a lot. So I would say that’s the main thing for me, other than still being able to spread the floor and everything I already did.”
Part of that is using his core strength–which he’s improved–to position himself closer to the rim, so he doesn’t get pushed away or knocked off balance against opposing post defenders. He’s shown glimpses of it, but the fluidity and results were never consistent. Depending on who shares the floor with Jovic, teams may stash or switch smaller defenders on him–thus making this development all the more important.
Last season, he averaged 7.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and a pair of assists on 45.2 percent shooting, including 39.9 percent from 3-point range (3.5 3PA), where he took 58.0 percent of his shot attempts.
Unfortunately, Jovic is also coming off a foot injury that he suffered during the summer. He’s almost recovered from it, but it’s not a complete guarantee he participates in training camp. The Heat are still leaving three starting spots open, so he still can win the spot alongside Bam Adebayo that he put a stranglehold on last year.
I’m fascinated to see how many on-ball reps Miami’s 6-foot-10 wing will have in his third NBA season. He saw a considerable uptick in touches from his rookie season–going from 23.2 to 31.4. Without Caleb Martin in the fold, Jovic is expected to be one of the few players with a larger role. It’s a lot to ask of a player coming off an offseason injury, but he will still be flanked by Jimmy Butler, Adebayo, Terry Rozier and Tyler Herro (among others)–taking some of the on-ball creation burden off his shoulders in certain lineups.
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People forget who Jovic was before he came to the Heat. Now, the Heat have made him stronger and are teaching him to leverage the strength and length to his own advantage when playing closer to the basket. Combine that with what he already knew, he can turn into a really dangerous player. I’m high on Jovic as a future NBA all-star. Not many people see him that way, but you can’t make people see what you do.
He has much potential and is young. He needs to develop a more aggressive mindset and a more physical game to realize that potential. Will he be Olynyk 2.0 or something better? The choice is his.