How the Miami Heat Are Developing Jaime Jaquez Jr. and More In-Person Summer League Takeaways

How the Miami Heat Are Developing Jaime Jaquez Jr. and More In-Person Summer League Takeaways

we’ll give you our takeaways from Las Vegas summer league and what’s happening with Nia yic on today’s episode of Locked on [Music] heat you are locked on heat your daily Miami Heat podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday all right welcome to locked on heat your everyday podcast on the Miami Heat whether you’re tuning in on YouTube odysse are your favorite podcast app thanks for making locked on heat your first listen every day Monday to Friday I’m West Goldberg editor at allou can heat.com here with David remel both of us are credential heat media members and today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s somebody there’s something for everybody every day all summer long visit fanduel.com to get started I just got back uh from Las Vegas late last night David did get chance to catch the uh Columbia Argentina game uh in the final there didn’t go the way I wanted it to but that was basically the weekend was a few days in Vegas got back I got some takeaways we got some story time later on in the show but we got to start with that heat Celtics game our takeaways from Vegas and we’ll start with Hae haaka Jr who was not supposed to be playing in this um because he’s going into his second year and because he’s really good already he goes for for 29 Points on 56% shooting 11 rebounds five assists and a steal in that game against the Celtics and a really fun one uh to watch there in person especially I want to talk about Kesha Johnson nikolic’s injury all these other things we’ll get to all that stuff but talking with haime after that game and we asked him dude what are you doing here like why are you here and he mentioned you know he was already in Las Vegas for the the US select team and he might as well just stay around but he said like if I wasn’t here I’d just be playing pickup somewhere else or golfing or something like that so I thought I could get in a couple of games he’s going to play that’s what I asked him I was like you golf now and he was like oh you know but um it was uh it was interesting to watch him out there not just because of the 29 Points in the production um which again he he’s too good to be playing in summer league it was kind of unfair but to see the leadership stuff and that’s what stood out to me and I think maybe you were able to see some of it on on the screen especially when he was running Twan actions with kware early in the game they were just running pick and roll for those two guys but what stood out to me in person was every time he would come off the floor during breaks whatever talking to his teammates pointing guys in different directions doing all these different things and I think for somebody like khil weer Kad Johnson pel Larson for them to be around haime who obviously went through this as a rookie and and for them to get to hear that from his side and then get to be coached up by him on the court this is the guy who was the steal in the draft was first team all rookie in the NBA that there’s not that many better guys to learn from and to have them to have him there and for haime to take that leadership role on which you talked about after the game I thought was really cool I think it’s going to be beneficial for the player the rookies I’m think I think it’s going to be beneficial for for haime who looks like a core piece going forward oh no doubt I I think we saw glimpses of it last year like you know about him being older that he’s played four years in college you saw IQ from him throughout his collegiate career that translated to the NBA but there were still moments there where he was kind of hesitant to speak up because he’s the rookie he’s the low man on the totem pole and you kind of have to earn that sort of seniority but there were glimpses of it where he was he seemed comfortable talking not just to himself but to other players like even opponents out in the court like he he didn’t shy away from that not necessarily drawing but like he wasn’t scared at the moment and he embraced it the leadership though that manifests in Glimpse he’s here and there throughout his rookie season but to see him take it to another level as a seconde player in some I think that is like to your point I think that’s fantastic for him to be able to reach out he spoke of the collective us of younger players like him Nico now khil Pella etc those guys that are on the roster to kind of supplement that core of Jimmy bam and Tyler herro who is still a young guy himself but whatever he’s already obviously got much more experience as an actual player so but for ni to be able to I’m sorry for for himim to be able to take that next level as far as being a leader on the court I think think that’s fantastic it does kind of help usher in the potential next phase of Miami Heat basketball assuming that Jimmy may or may not be on the roster for much longer but that they’re kind of building around bam there’s a lot of talk about that second timeline adhering it more towards Bam’s kind of present and future and if that’s the case I think himim is a player who complement that perfectly so it’s great to see um some of the on the court stuff too that running pick and roll of khil that to me was really interesting and it did Take Miami out of the offense that they had been running mostly in Sacramento which was you know still pick and roll based with khil we but it was much more focused on getting the ball to khil on the roll and letting him finish H the basket and I thought the Boston Summer League defense did a good job of having scouted that and trying to take that away we had a pretty productive game anyway he ended up with not to go like whole like post game on this because that’s not really the the interesting part here but 17 points on 7even to9 shooting he just didn’t get that many shots up um cookies though if even we would give credit cookies to let’s do it let’s give uh six to Summer League credit cookies what do what do Vegas summer Le do they taste like sand and like dreams oh nice they’re made out of Ash cigarettes and losing money at the crabs table is what it sells that’s what I smell like [Music] sorry um oh wow it was um what so six to haime two to khil and then uh TOA Isaiah Stevens Johnson yeah yeah yeah right something around there five five five to yeah uh there we go so but on on the court part and talking with Dan baceo after the game one of the things that Miami wants to develop with Hae in terms of him kind of taking this next step is his playmaking and if there was a bone to pick with his summer league performance on Saturday the five turnovers weren’t great and I was talking with him after the game and he was talking about playmaking and wanting to clean up those turns overs and baceo was talking about High m playmaking and that’s something that they want to work on and that was very obvious from that game right you don’t need to talk to the coaches to figure that out he was running the offense when Isaiah Stevens wasn’t so um is that the next step for him whether he’s running pick and roll for khil wear pick and roll for bam atab bio right like all these things when we look at Miami’s roster Tay rir is the only sort of traditional nominal point guard on the on the team that’s going to mean guys like Tyler hero haime hakz Jimmy Butler bam bio like all these guys are going to run offense they’re going to initiate offense niik yic all these guys are going to initiate offense I don’t know that that was haim’s best trait as a rookie he was more to me of a get me the ball on the second side and I’ll Attack get me the ball on the post and I’ll go to work not really a guy who was not really a player who was getting his teammates involved all that much as a rookie that sort of that but that looks like that’s the next step that they want them to take when you talk about Miami’s developmental program they’re going to identify a couple of key areas where these players can grow whether it was like Duncan Robinson last year taking guys off the dribble well it looks like what they want to do with haime is no we’re going to develop you into a playmaker I think that’s pretty meaningful when we talk about what his future looks like yeah yeah no I mean I think there were again glimpses last year too like I think maybe it wasn’t necessarily a strong suit but it was certainly in his wheelhouse like there were things that he could do as a playmaker but to your point he was probably much more effective just kind of putting the ball down and looking to score he was very effective in that role but I think like when you’re looking at what Miami kind of is seeking out of their roster they’re looking for versatility guys that can do a number of different things if you look at the roster construction a lot of people kind of bemoaning the fact that they haven’t added that traditional point guard they didn’t add any real point guard other than the guys they’ve currently got on on the summer league roster they don’t need it they don’t need it and I think that’s fine I mean look look at what the Boston Celtics in and I hate making that comparison but we’ve made it before and I think it Bears repeating the Celtics kind of have a roster of guys that are much more versatile and they don’t have a typical point guard Jason Tatum is the guy who initiates office yeah holiday can do it Derek white can do it Jaylen Brown can kind of do it but regardless of that you’ve got guys that can still bring the ball up kind of still get everybody going into their sets and as long as they can finish at the basket at a high level or shoot the ball effectively you’re G to be able to generate offense without a traditional point guard and I think Miami can follow suit because you’ve got Jimmy you’ve got bam you’ve got Tyler you’ve got whoever is the fourth and fifth starters there we don’t know but all these guys can create offense and I think that that helps everybody to be able to have that versatility there and if they’re trying to actively develop it with him it’s gonna be immensely beneficial to have guys coming off the bench presuming yes that’s his role that can do that alongside you know the starting group so I think it’s great I think it’s great that they’re they’re looking for this specifically and that they’re trying to develop it as a as a kind of team wide ethos we’ve already seen them go down this path over the last probably year or so where they’ve wanted to it’s why k ended up getting traded it’s not just because of the contract it’s because no we don’t we don’t want that traditional ball handler who’s initiating every single set for us we want everybody to be able to do it and if Larry’s not doing it if he doesn’t have the ball in his hands he just was ineffective he wasn’t a willing enough shooter and you know getting older he wasn’t able to get to the basket all these things so they trade him for a guy like Terry Rosier who’s never been a traditional point guard so even when I call him the only traditional point guard that’s like the closest thing that he have to one he’s not he’s more of a combo scoring guard but who can get guys involved and and is a good roll you know operator but that’s not his bread and butter so haime I think what we learned we knew the one thing in terms of his Player Development if you’re going to identify two or three things for each of these players which is how the Heats developmental coaching staff kind of operates it’s all right what are the what are the vitamins we need to feed these guys well Target the weaknesses ETA uh the three-point shooting for haime we knew that already it’s get that up from 34 35% we got to get that to 37 38% the playmaking thing to me was the interesting one that is sort of it was maybe an obvious area but I I think it was it’s it’s at least interesting that they’re doing it going into his second season for all the reasons that we’ve talked about I saw khil wear in person there’s some things I liked a lot about him a couple things I didn’t really love we’re going to talk about all that next plus some of the surprise uh takeaways from that summer league game we’ll get to all that next here on lock on heat today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel look we all love sports we love them so much we’re listening to podcast we never want them to stop but the playoffs have wound down we get fewer games down the sports just aren’t sportsing like you want them to but over FanDuel they let you keep the sports going whenever you want because all you have to do is open up the app and you can dream up beds anytime you’re in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers new old whoever with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long so head over the FanDuel start making the most out of your summer FanDuel the official sports betting partner at Major League Baseball we’ll be right back thanks for making lock on heat your first listen every day Miami Heat talk every day 5 days a week if you’re new to us on YouTube hit that subscribe button like the videos you can also follow us on your favorite podcast app so my takeaways on kware seeing him in person he’s really big he’s this dude is enormous have I don’t know if you’ve heard but he’s 7 feet tall with a 7 fo4 wingspan yeah it’s really cool kind of standing next to somebody who’s legitimately 7 feet and not you know like even like Dwight Howard was what 610 and but would talk about kind of being a seven-footer he’s not right yeah but a guy who’s legitimately seven feet tall that’s it’s pretty crazy to stand next to that player to that person so it is it is that that not not to go just like dude is tall as my analysis but dude’s tall you know um so I mean you still never get used to right like we’ve been covering the league for over a decade now and like we we talked to guys that are obviously above average in size and it’s like a a seven foot I’ll never forget like standing next to Frank Kaminsky like that was one of the players that was like to me is like huh this guy’s really tall like and I’m tall you know tall like with an average sense but no no this is like NBA tall like you just get a different vibe like when you’re standing over somebody that’s legitimately over s feet gal where certainly fits the bill christop porzingis was sort of my welcome to covering the NBA moment I was like oh my God like how does anybody even hear what you’re saying from all the way up there uh Victor webban Yama was in Miami last year but he sat down during his interview so I never stood next to webban Yama but I saw him sitting down and him sitting down you know his head was still sort of grazing the ceiling so I don’t really yeah NBA players are tall how’s that for lockdown heat analysis that’s why you come to us um I I thought thought he ran really well and that was and I’ll explain what I mean by that but with with these seven-footers a lot you could tell a lot by their gate you could tell a lot by how they move up and down the court you could tell kind of if they’re going to be healthy based on the way that they move right you get these guys who are just that was the thing that always stood out to me with jool and uh Joel and beid at Kansas was he wasn’t as big as he is now even at Kansas but he was still huge but the way that he would run it was just like wow like this guy’s a different level well no no he was not clunky he ran like a in Kansas unfortunately he had just debilitating foot injuries kind of going in but like if this guy was healthy this guy’s going to be just a different level athlete and that’s what he is you know at the NBA level but um with khil I would not compare I don’t think he’s that graceful like and beat at Kansas but I was more impressed seeing him run up and down the court in person than I was seeing him on screen during the Sacramento game yeah quicker he’s got a good sort of first step and I don’t mean the first step in sort of that Anthony Edwards kind of you know screaming off of a pick kind of thing but just that that first step of get the rebound turn around and start heading up the court a lot of time you see like uh I think about like Nika yic does this a lot kind of it’s that big huff and puff turn around and start kind of getting down the court right um with khil it’s he grabs the rebound and he starts flying kind of the way nikol yic does it’s he’s he’s he’s going he’s ready to go so he’s got uh just good uh side to one side of the court to the other side of the Court athleticism and I like that and that makes it it makes him much more impactful in terms of a rim roller a trail three-point shooter which he finally hit his first three-pointer in that Saturday game against Boston in summer league so that’s what I liked about Kil before I get to what I you think of the shooting form it’s a little strange okay is that fit into the not so much not like so much category those are the couple yeah so one of the two things I didn’t like so the shooting form in person it I don’t know that I got any major takeaways seeing it in person more than I would have seen on screen it it’s it’s not broken but it needs some cleaning up and you know talking with some people around you know the the team and stuff yeah they know that they knew that in the pre-draft process they were okay with it kware shot well during his pre-draft uh workout with the heat I think they I think the heat are sold on the fact that he has touch the guy has touch and that’s something that you can’t necessarily teach all the time you could teach a great form and you can get you can get a lot out of a good shooting form but you can get a lot more if you have good shooting touch especially if you’re big you kind of need that touch and I think they’re sold on the touch and they’re just going to clean up the mechanics a little bit and they’re going to work on that but between that and just getting him to buy in as a rim roller those are the most important things what I didn’t like he needs to get stronger man MH there was a couple of moments seeing it in person where he was trying to back down some smaller summer league Boston Celtics player and couldn’t do it there was one right in front of us where the media were sitting where um I don’t I don’t know what Celtics player it was all these guys are Anonymous to me but it he he was trying to back him down for like three or four seconds in the shot clock and he didn’t get an inch on a guy who was significantly smaller than him and it’s it’s the thing that I had a concern about when we did our blue notebook with him it’s like this dude cannot get to his spot if there’s somebody in between him and his spot he just doesn’t have the lower body strength and he kind of gets sucked into it where it’s like okay I’m trying I’m trying I’m trying and next thing you know four or five seconds in the shot clock have ticked down and he’s taken four five six dribbles he’s not going to get that opportunity in the NBA I think that’ll be ironed out pretty quickly I would hope but if the ne eventually in his development he’s going to get he’s going to have to get to a point where he’s going to be able to move guys off a spot whether or not it’s a post up or just getting position as a rebounder that is where I’m more like he’s got the length and the wingspan to grab rebounds that are not in his area right but if he’s going to have to box out and he’s he’s struggling even with the with basic box outs because of this lack of lower body strength yeah I don’t think we talked about it necessarily we talked about in other aspect like his motor the shooting and stuff like that but I I think that he put such a priority on strength and conditioning that I imagine their strength and conditioning staff had to have look at at khalil’s physique been like this is a body that we can add muscle to like CU obviously anybody can add muscle but like that it’s a frame that’s capable of growth and and expansion and strengthening to be more effective at the NBA level I’m sure they feel comfortable this is something they can develop they just I’m curious to see what happens over the next two months I’ve said it before but I think how the amount of work that he’s going to put in between summer league and when training camp starts are going to be defining not just for him as a rookie but I think for his career because they’re really going to show how willing he is to put in the work if he’s just like comfortable resting on his seven foot Laurels or saying no well I’ve got to get better I’ve got to be effective to be able to do what I can to Showcase my skills because he’s a very skilled player like I I wonder if he’s that kind of guy who was like maybe a guard growing up and kind of just shot up in terms of size and height because we’ve seen it before because he does have skill like he moves well he handles the ball he shoots as you said it’s it’s just seems like he just needs to kind of have his body catch up to that growth spurt because he’s still so young too so I think there’s potential there I think the heat believe that he’s got that frame to add muscle and they’re they’re very open about hey he needs to get stronger and khil has talked about hey I need to get stronger so that’s all there but to your point we talk about Miami strength and conditioning program and we always focus on the conditioning part about it the heat are very in on strength they think that that is a area in the NBA that might have not that’s not talked about enough and could be an uh sort of a easy place to create an advantage yeah because the NBA is a shooting league it’s a skill League well strength does go a long way and Miami has always put a premium on that maybe more than a lot of other teams have and I think there are other teams in the league that are starting to catch up on how important strength is in the NBA but yeah I think where where will get there uh in terms of the other players who stood out kead Johnson had the rim rocking dunk that was and like it’s a highlight but we could talk about the dunk I don’t know it was awesome I guess but yeah this guy plays his tail off that guy is going 100% every single possession he is every bit a Miami Heat player I think they found like I I don’t I don’t want to take too much off of like basically three or four Summer League games here but I really think they found something with this kid yeah I’m glad they brought him in for a workout I’m glad that they saw the tweener size and weren’t kind of dismayed by it because I think he has that athleticism he’s got that pop but he just seems like he said all the right things that he wants to be a Heat player like it’s just it seems like such a great fit that they found that guy who is I think somebody made a comparison like a more athletic explosive PJ Tucker like I mean that would be great like I mean I don’t know if the three-point shot will eventually be through the where it was for PJ but like if he’s a guy who can defend multiple positions and he still has that dog and yet he also has explosive athleticism certainly something kadw does that that is a great pickup for Miami you know who he remind just like the way I was when I was watching him the way he just goes like his motor the speed with which he plays it’s Russell Westbrook like it’s oh wow he is flying there is no downshift it is 100 miles an hour the entire game all the time whenever he’s on the court there is no slowing down there’s a it with which he plays and it’s Russ it reminds me of Russell Westbrook that’s great that’s fantastic I I think for a lot of people who are like looking at him and be like oh why can’t we add him to a contract it cannot happen Miami is tied they they have the roster spot available which as we’ve said before they’re keeping open as they’ve done traditionally so that if there is a midseason change to the roster then it can accommodate it but unless they cut somebody which they’re not going to do because they don’t want to take that cap while I hit or they make a trade and consolidate the number of players on the roster they cannot add these guys on two-way contracts yeah right they can’t even promote the guy on a two-way contract to a standard roster spot because there’s only $1.5 million between where the heat are now and the second apron which they’re not going to go over but hey it’s okay the guy’s on a two-way you can play this the thing just in have nice things they got a player on a two-way contract we don’t have them immediately start being like well how do we get him into the Hall of Fame let’s just relax okay uh just enjoy that they got a guy on a two-way um and in the pipeline the other guy I want to talk about really quick is Isaiah Stevens we mentioned the fact that the heat don’t really have a traditional point guard on the roster well maybe they do uh we talk about how Isaiah Stevens can fit into Miami’s long-term plans uh and nikolic’s latest injury news all next here on lockdown heat today’s episode is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your car alive and E Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance from superchargers to roof racks exhaust kits to LED headlights and so much more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered and with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your buddy back because with eBay Motors you’re burning rubber and not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com that’s ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions do apply and eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers we’ll be right back thanks again for making lock on heat your first listen every day make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube let us know in the comments section what stands out to you in l Vegas summer league also follow us on your favorite podcast app before we get to the nikol yovic injury news one other player who’s Who’s Who game has stood out for the heat in summer league and had a great performance in that Saturday game Isaiah Stevens the point guard out of Colorado State 5-year college player he started in college when Jimmy Butler signed with the Miami Heat so he’s basically been in college during the entire Jimmy Butler era so he’s an older rookie went undrafted the heat picked him up right away and the T the the impression I got from the organization was that they were really excited about getting Isaiah Stevens that that was sort of you know you look at Kesha Johnson all these guys who were brought in for workouts and we and you were on this early in terms of maybe getting Kad Johnson as an undrafted guy on a two-way they didn’t sign Isaiah Stevens to a two-way but uh he goes off for nine points 11 assists and two turnovers in that game and just looks like he’s in complete control of the offense you watching him in person I don’t know what it looked like on screen but the dude just knows how to play basketball he’s in the right place he’s making the right reads he’s Point fing in a great way making decisions in half a second where it’s shoot pass or dribble and just look I know again as a older rookie guy who was in college for five years he is older than a lot of guys that he was playing with but he looked older in a good way was he vocal out there as well comfortable in that leadership role he seemed like it yeah I mean he’s he very comfortable like to the point where I think he was even telling haime hakas Jr some stuff nice there was like possessions where he was L like hey if I think it looked like almost like hey if you do that again I’ll find you he kind of pointed at something that haime had just done so I I’m all in on this guy again not on a two-way just on the summer league roster I’m wondering if and the heat are very impressed with Isaiah Stevens and they really like him Drew Smith is on that third two-way contract right we got um Zion pen Zion P Kad Johnson so I think the Zion Pullen spot could also be had I don’t know that he’s locked in obviously in a way that Kesha Johnson’s locked in in the heat by the way no matter where they are in the cap they could toggle between these two-way contracts any way they want it has no impact on the cap you could switch them out all year long every other day if you want so I do wonder if though Isaiah Stevens is now the favorite to land one of these two-way contracts because Drew Smith is still hurt he can’t play or he’s still rehabbing right it it sucks for Drew Smith who obviously this Heat organization likes a lot because they keep bringing him back they’ve cut him what eight times and brought him back seven so it might be a ninth time here though because Isaiah Stevens is making a strong case to get one of these two ways yeah no I was just gonna say like who do you think has the inside track at this point is it it’s Kad I think that’s pretty clear and then from that you’ve got two other spots like has anybody else stood out you’ve got Isaiah Stevens can you keep pull and Stevens as two guards or could you even add perhaps Cole schwier or alandis Williams back to another two two way obviously they’re unrestricted free aidence they wrote about it for the Miami Herold this past weekend we talked about it last week when they were their two ways had been kind of resented or no the qualifying offers restricted that make them unrestricted for so they could sign anywhere correct I just don’t know that there is but they’ve chosen to stay with Miami because it’s comfortable because they’ll get an opportunity because I think they kind of believe in what the heat system has been able to do for them so far there’s a number of reasons there but I mean they’re also looking for a job and that wherever you can find it at this point so I don’t know I think Miami has a lot of uh questions that they need to answer as far as like who these roster spots go to the two-way contracts go to because I mean obviously since you cannot make other WID sweeping Monumental changes or adding you know drafted players or anything like that or even making a a significant trade you’ve got to be able to to build up that pipeline that’s something we’ve talked about pretty consistent you’ve lost a number of two-way players that have gone on as free agents in the past couple years now it’s time to kind of continue to add that up so and they take they they they take seriously being able to retain a guy that’s been part of our system that knows what we do here so I wouldn’t be surprised if that I saw Stevens perhaps get one of those as another guy that they can add but either Alis or Cole getting that that third two-way because again they’re familiar with what’s happening here and Co Cole swier has not missed a three-pointer right they’re also good is not and and to the other point too is when you have them on your two-way they’re protected right they can’t get scooped up from another team well if you were to just add them to your g-league roster and su falls any team could just pick them up they’re still technically free agents they just play for g-league roster so I with Cole being as good of a shooter as he is and putting on the performance that he’s put on in Sacramento and Vegas so far some team is going to scoop him up some team’s going to sco like shooting is too much of a premium NBA they really like Coler and they really like alandis Williams I don’t think they want to let either of these guys get away but they might be forced to let one of these guys get away especially if Stevens is playing himself into the point where hey he’s young he’s a he’s a guard who can obviously play at a pretty decent level right now if you want to have some sort of traditional point guard on one of these two-ways which it looks like they do between have just by them uh signing Zion P into a two I don’t know does Stevens get the Pullin spot does Pullin then go to the G league right I don’t know that there’s unless there was a team out there that was really high on Pullin in the pre-draft process another one of these older rookies like I think you could probably get away with letting Poland go and still retaining him in soue Falls that would probably be harder to do it with a guy like Cole swi or orlandis Williams where it feels like one of those guys will get scooped up by another team if Miami doesn’t add them to a two-way the other thing too is do they want a two-way right there might there might be spots at the end of rosters on a standard contract somewhere else in the NBA so it’s going to be on Cole swier and Ales Williams to figure that part out but yeah if I’m the heat I’m trying to get I’m trying to keep at least one of these guys um let’s get to the nikovic news uh it was revealed over the last couple days that he is dealing with an ankle injury we obviously saw the uh the photo kind of circulating a few weeks ago with him in a walking boot um his status now for training camp and even the start of the season is in question now now I think that there’s optimism around the heat that he’ll be ready to go for training camp but I had heard even when that photo was circulating hey that’s not just going to be a data day thing that’s not a precautionary walking boot like that might be more serious than the heat have been letting on and lo and behold that’s exactly what has happened that’s been revealed over the last couple days there’s also and again it’s kind of like this isn’t to sound xenophobic or anything and I hope that doesn’t come across that way but there’s it all seems like there is some kind of a disconnect between the reporting when it comes from like a European Source or something along those lines and and traditional American sources or at least something that we’re much more familiar with in that sense because there was also I think a Twitter account that showed him like working out and like putting up shots and even running and then that kind of like I’m sure the heat has to be like well what’s going on there and I think there was even some talk about him possibly joining the Serbian national team for the Olympics and that and maybe the the the idea that he wouldn’t be available at all that he was ruled out for they was a little premature so I I I think that he have to be involved in this to some degree because they don’t want to risk their player getting worse due to injury so there again there I think there just happens to be some disconnect well I think there there is optimism to your point but at the same time you want to be able to be measured and and not rush him back from injury however important the Olympics might be to him and to the Serbian national team and then wind up having to shove that player for the entirety of the 2014 25 season you don’t want to get to that point certainly so he did not travel with the Serbian national team who are in Abu Dhabi right now for some scrimmages and then obviously the H to Paris he did not go with the travel party so he’s but he stayed behind in Belgrade he’s not in Miami and that’s where he’s working out and that’s where he’s rehabbing the Heat have basically handed off this portion of the rehab willingly or unwillingly yeah to his people in Belgrade and and he want and and it does mean a lot to Nico to try to play for the for the national team understand that I respect it and of course he wants to play with n yic and all these things and be part of that power rotation there so we’ll see what happens but you’re right I think that he’d have to look at this and be like don’t ruin our player please like just don’t break going on here um but obviously he’s holding on hope that he could still play in the Summer Olympics which probably is a reason for optimism that he’ll be ready by the start of the Season or at least by training camp so we’ll see what happens assuming things will get worse which they certainly can’t like if you put too much pressure and Rush him back and kind of force him to play on that bad ankle and then that gets worse and next thing you know oh he’s out for six to eight weeks to start to to start training camp and everything else like that that would be a setback for him something to look at right something to monitor here uh kind of Bumm that this is happening and that we weren’t going to be able to watch him in the Olympics absolutely so absolutely we’ll see what happens maybe maybe he’ll still play but I’m I’m not holding out much hope there um all right that’ll do it for us today thanks for making lock on heat your first listen every day like comment and subscribe on YouTube and follow us on your podcast app

Jaime Jaquez Jr. put on a clinic in his Summer League appearance, but what does he have to gain from playing in Las Vegas? What are the Miami Heat coaches prioritizing in terms of his development?

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil discuss Jaquez’s next step, watching Kel’el Ware in person and other Summer League standouts before talking about the latest on Nikola Jovic’s injury.

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