Kasparas Jakučionis Introduced By Miami Heat | First Round Pick Reveals His Plan For Summer

Kasparas Jakučionis Introduced By Miami Heat | First Round Pick Reveals His Plan For Summer

welcome on in guys Tobin here with you and thanks for checking out the channel Hope you’re doing well there If you guys could subscribe that’d be great and appreciate you stopping by And uh today the Miami Heat introducing their first round pick Casperis Yakonis getting introduced to the media as he dawns his new number 25 jersey Welcomed in by Pat Riley and Eric Spolstra Godfather and the coach not taking uh questions but we did get to hear from Cass himself Um and very interesting what this uh this guy’s going to do and and see what kind of a prospect he’s going to be It is it’s an interesting blend kind of like the the two of the last three picks right because you do have the European experience like Nicola Yoic had u but then you blend it of course where he had a year of college basketball as well and so pretty excited to see what he brings Everybody’s raving about of course his playmaking his rim finishing some comparisons I mean dare we say some comparisons to the great Goron Dragitch a a a legend And though Khlo Wear now wears number seven and I don’t know if number seven is going to get in the rafters for Goron Dragich Uh a very great argument that this guy could be the greatest point guard of all time in Miami Heat history if his foot doesn’t explode I’ve already done this argument You guys know I love Goi But anyway Cass now gets introduced to uh the Miami Heat and uh you know it was I wouldn’t say any anything too earthshattering that we got to learn about him but he did uh point out a couple of things that you know he thinks are going to be helpful for him This was uh one where he was talking about you know what he thinks transitioning from Euro basket Euro basketball in Spain to you know to college how is that going to make him uh better in transitioning over to professional basketball in the NBA ranks yeah I think every time uh I moved to play somewhere else especially from home when I was just 15 it helped me grow as a person and as a player learn new cultures play different uh style of games uh because Spain is different than Lithuania Then I moved to Illinois Another adjustment to play US basketball more than Spanish So I think just this all adjustment give me more experience Uh and obviously it’s a it’s a process Uh and I can’t wait to to start working Couple things that are going to be interesting about this you know uh it is it is hard not to like think about the the transition from uh over to college basketball and thinking about Nicola Yoic and how like the Heat hadn’t drafted a prospect like that before and you know especially in a while But you know with Cass it’s it’s interesting because you know he’s not going to be dealing with bigs right like he’s already got pretty good size for him as a as a player when you’re going to be playing in the back court as opposed to Nico where it’s like hey he has to bulk up there is part of this process that means he has to be able to play with men on the court Even though he had played against men professionally there is still a difference of like the guys he’s going to be playing with and taking advantage of that As as far with Yakonis it’s like all right he’s already got good size to him 65 66 And you know though he did mention about getting in the weight room today and we’ll play this for you about you know his ability to get to the rim and that’s going to be a big focus of his um it doesn’t feel like it’s going to be as pressing physically at least you would think as it would be for Kell or for Nico Um because even like you know you think about somebody like Tyler very very thin when he first comes into the league and a lot’s been made every single year about the weight that he’s got to put on and keeping that weight on and trying to attack the rim more and having that you know that that that ability um he still was able to succeed at a very very young age but he does know that he is going to spend some of this summer uh bulking up a little bit
Obviously uh I need to put the work in the weight room uh building my body building my strength and just with the process and with the time it will come but I’m just ready to to work hard and be the best version of myself One of the things that’s interesting though like they first of all they do a very good job of getting these guys you know bigger and getting them more effective Um that is part of it but also like hey he does have to go to summer league He does have to go there and and kind of learn the system learn where he’s going to get guys going And I think you know you the thing that I’m I’m excited to see on a summer league roster with him is man a lot of those guys go there and they want to get their shots up and they want to put up those those big score numbers One of the things that’s going to be cool for him is when you’re a first- round pick you don’t necessarily need to make a show like that right like and it’s not that the Heat don’t want their players being aggressive especially if they’re a shooting type prospect but you want to be able to uh you know you want to be able to get teammates involved And I think one of the cool things we saw last year is we saw a very unselfish crew You look at what like Isaiah Stevens was able to do uh to really make a name for himself that last year and a lot of his teams teammates fell in love with So with Cass I’m excited to see all right what can he do what are those early looks going to be like to Khal Wear or to any of Keshan Johnson or to Vlad Golden or whoever is on that roster So we’re going to get a little bit of a window into that and seeing you know where he uh where where some of that dazzling passing can come into the fold He was asked today a little bit about his style I asked him this uh also when we had him for a few minutes after the draft It was funny We had him after the draft right we were like waiting on the call and I think we were like the last media that got him that night cuz I think he he gets drafted does a press conference at the draft Then I think he does a conference call with the reporters who are there covering it in the media room Then he does an in arena interview with Eric Reid via I guess Zoom or he FaceTimes into the arena so everybody can see him And then like we’re waiting and waiting and waiting and I’m sure you probably like had to go to the bathroom or something cuz you’re just talking and you’re going through this rush and so like we’re waiting but it’s one of those weights that like felt like forever because literally everybody else wants to leave the arena and I think at this point mind you we’re on the arena bowl We’re not like in a media room backstage like we’re we’re around everybody myself Salana Tommy Ty our producer Steph uh Ben who was producing from the Heat And Ben’s like frantically like trying to get him on the phone and whatnot and they’re literally shutting the lights off on us Finally we get him But I asked him about who his favorite players were Like does he model his game after and he kind of had like you know the the the responses for guys who are like pass first great scorers his go-to guys LeBron James Luca Donuch and there’s some ties with Luca because Luca played in Spain he played in Spain So he mentioned today uh when asked I believe by Anthony Chang about like who does he model after who does he like to model his game after and uh and he mentioned the of course superstar Slovenian from the LA Lakers and said like Luca but he really feels like he’s got his own style I like to be myself uh but also like to take some some things from other players too Uh when I was little I was watching uh Luca when he was still in Madrid Um because I moved to Spain after too So I watch his like playmaking and self shot creation Uh I like how Andrew Nehard you know gives all 100% on both ends on the floor trying to do the right plays play a game the right way uh shoot open shots So I would say these two the most but I just like to be myself Hey I love the fact that you know he’s you know Nemhardt obviously the Pacers having a really really great year that they’re just coming off of but that effort that everybody’s going to wonder like hey what is he like defensively and I mentioned this in the uh in another video but Adam Simon had mentioned about the whole defense thing And he said you know listen I’m going to give the effort I don’t think this is something that he’s he’s backing off of but but Adam Simon made the point he goes like look most guys come into the league not very good at defense like most teenagers are going to come in here not very good at defense Um and a couple things One I don’t think it’s going to I don’t think it’s as big of an issue during the regular season especially you know he’s most likely going to be in a six-man role or not a six-man role he’s going to most likely be in a reserve role and we’ll see where the playing time goes from there and where that all unfolds But um you know if the effort’s there and you’re trying your ass off I think everybody can appreciate that And I do think guys can improve I think Nico’s improved really really great You know I think there was a time where like hey he looked completely lost Um and I think Nico like holds up pretty solid you know pretty pretty steady pretty solid So um certainly excited to see you know what he brings to the table from that He did mention that you know as far as Lithuanian players with uh you know Sabonis uh I think it was it Valenunis is the other one and then he hasn’t met those two but he said today that uh he did have dinner in Chicago with Matas Buzzelis who man Miami Heat saw that kid is going to be good He lit the Heat up like a Christmas tree a couple times Didn’t he have a perfect game against the Heat i think he was like 10 for 10 ridiculous game Matus Buzzelis but um he said that he got to uh and then you would figure same same age range a little bit more than Sabonis is Um but that he is uh that that he got to have a little bit of dinner with him He is not going to play Euro basket So he’s going to be completely focused on the NBA season which for a rookie seems to make sense Now I don’t know what the to be fair I don’t know what the Lithuanian roster situation is Maybe they don’t need him I maybe it’s one of those things where it’s too stacked he’s not going to get playing time I don’t know I would imagine based on the NBA guys from Lithuania that they probably could but also it’s going to be his first season The Heat probably want him up to speed Want him in the facility as much as possible Get settled in Miami you know to to get drafted Think about this though because it would be get drafted You got two weeks till summer league You’re probably going to work out with some of your workouts at summer league are probably going to start You do summer league if the heat go far summer league goes through you know goes on for a couple weeks you’re done Then in a couple weeks you got basketball starting up in August for Euro Basket All that play it’s a lot Like I I understand why you would want the the focus to be there While there’s always benefit I would imagine whenever if Lithuania gets another opportunity then he’ll probably go for that But you know even Nico you know those tournaments didn’t start up till his second year with uh with with the FIA World Cup and then of course the Olympics In the Olympics he played you know basically on a broken foot So understand that he is not going to uh to go out there and he’s not going to get some time at Euro Basket Probably the prudent move Probably the prudent move to just focus on being in Miami and uh and getting that focus on here But look kid uh kid handled the the the the pressure like a pro I was upset you know I couldn’t be there boots on the ground today But uh we’ll get plenty of time to talk to Casper Yakonis and uh on the comeup form and excited to see how his heat career blossoms before our very Eyes

Tobin reacts to Miami Heat first round pick Kasparas Jakučionis getting introduced today at the Arena
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