Miami Heat: Jakučionis’ rough start continues in blowout loss | Five on the Floor

Miami Heat: Jakučionis’ rough start continues in blowout loss | Five on the Floor

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Welcome to five on the floor a daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA featuring Ethan Skolnick, Greg Sander, Alex Toledo, Brady Hawk, and others from the Five Reason Sports Network. Also, make sure to subscribe to Off the Floor for the most heat anywhere. Welcome back to Five on the Floor. I’m your host, Greg Sander. Today’s floor plan with me, Brady Hawk. You can follow him at Brady Hawk 305. We are going to recap the Miami Heat second summer league game in the California Classic. They go down to the Los Angeles Lakers 10383. So essentially the exact opposite of what happened yesterday in terms of how the game went. Um the Heat didn’t win any of the four quarters. It was kind of a a game that again uh it w wasn’t really fun to watch from the Heat’s perspective. We’re going to get into the top rookies, talk about maybe something that we’ve seen from some of the other players or maybe what we haven’t seen. Uh but before we do, want to shout out off the floor. That’s our Discord. You need to go there for the most heat anywhere. $2.99 a month on your desktop, 3.99 on your Apple device. This is where you can talk heat 247. There’s 10 channels. The draft channel, transaction channel. You can talk uh in the main thing, chat about basically anything regarding the heat. You have Brady, Ethan, Alex, myself, others uh updating on host updates. So, the link is in the description of this episode. Off the floor, $299 a month. It’s the most heat anywhere. Make sure you check that out. Shameless plug to start the show, Brady. Um, so the Heat get beat down in this game. Um, I don’t want to take I’m not going to take a ton of um of like what we’ve seen in the last two games and apply that to any logic going forward. Uh, but I think that there is obviously some stuff to to talk about. Let’s start with um and get out of the way kind of the elephant in the room in terms of the player that I think he fans wanted to see take off in these first two games but haven’t hasn’t necessarily got to do that yet and that’s Casper Yakonis. I think he’s not there’s a couple things I think he’s probably one of those guys and feel free to to disagree Brady if you if you if you do. I think he’s one of those guys that probably is gonna benefit from playing with the the players that can actually catch and shoot and and and like are competent in ways that this lineup is just not. But also, I hope that they would put him on ball a little bit more than I’ve seen so far. But there’s no um he’s he’s trying really hard. I I can see that now. He’s overthinking it a little bit. Um I hope that in Vegas that he gets to kind of reset himself and they give him the keys a little bit more. Your thoughts on um Yakonis today who followed up an uneven performance in his first game with a relatively uneven performance again in 21 minutes today against the Lakers. Yeah. So here’s the devil’s advocate behind him playing with better players and how it changes his game. Yes. if he’s running the offense and he’s able to kind of have better better spacing and and better kickouts that it might help him. But he’s also that would also mean he’s facing better defenders. That also means he’s facing NBA level ball pressure. And my main takeaway from this game today, it’s like I I’m not really worried about the shot making part of it. I mean,
this is kind of the nerves are a part of this. I think the shot will eventually level itself out because it’s a lot of his shots were aren’t even super clean. like it’s not like he’s getting great shots, but it’s more so when he does get the reps on ball and like I agree, he’s not getting a super high usage, so it’s not like you’re getting a super high sample, but when he has gotten it, uh he just hasn’t been able to break down his defender like he hasn’t been able to get I I haven’t seen a play with him when he has the ball in his hands and he generates a paint touch. Like he actually just breaks down his defender, gets in the paint, makes a kick out or anything like that. Uh he’s just struggled getting inside the three-point line. Like they’ve done a good job of walling him off. I kind of wish that they’d prioritize him where this is the time to do it where you keep setting a screen for him to kind of force his hand a little bit and make him figure it out to your point, but he’s just been kind of rough with the ball in his hands. He’s just kind of been a little turnover prone. Uh, and he it’s funny because you see like when you look at the his his just attributes in general when you see like 6’6 and being a bigger point guard, he doesn’t look very big out there. like he he he kind of seems almost undersized in a way just because uh he’s just a little skinnier and he he just seems small out there where he’s not able to like
bully his way inside either. So he’s still trying to use like crossovers and putting his head down and get downhill. Uh but he just hasn’t had the ability to. He hasn’t had a lot of clean offensive scoring looks, but just as you know that part of it, I just haven’t seen that at a high level. And we were talking about this before the show. Hopefully that changes in Vegas. Hopefully if they maybe figure out a system where they get used to playing with each other a little bit that maybe he could get the ball in his hands and they can play a little faster and they can play a certain style. Uh but yeah, it’s a little rough right now. The offense for him, he’s definitely in his head. I mean, three points the first game, four points the second game. I was making the case uh yesterday comparing it to Yoic in his first game where, you know, he had three I think Yovic exactly had the same exact stat line in his first game as well. He was three points, one of six shooting. Uh, but Yoic bounced back in that second game and had the ball in his hands and kind of figured it out and it just wasn’t the same case scenario for for Casper. So, I’m interested to see what it is looking, you know, moving forward. And honestly, like yes, we’re talking about the the things that haven’t gone well for him, but like can we not sit him for 10 12 minutes like this and because honestly with the way things are heading and I’m not trying to jump the gun and and and judge off of two games, but it this is the level that he’s going to be at in a few months. He’s not going to be a part of the main rotation in the regular season. So, this is the portion of time where you’re really getting game reps and getting a look at him. Uh so, I just like to see, you know, just a longer sample size in a lot of these games. agree. I mean, they had um Myron Gardner played 26 minutes, Khloe Wear played 28. Um Bryson Warren played 26, Yakonis 21. Um and I’m rounding up or down there just, you know, for the sake of of conversation. Also 0 of three from the from the field for Yakonis. Gets all his points off free throws, five turnovers. There’s a lot to clean up. I mean, he’s a young kid. Um, so I’m not going to sugarcoat that, but I just wish that they would kind of let him lean into the creative stuff that I’ve seen uh in the highlight reels. And, you know, it’s going to take time. And to your point, when he plays with better players, there will be better defenders out there. Uh, but it’s been a rough go. And I I just think that to your point, the other thing that I wonder is how far they uh advance in Vegas to the point where they play guys multiple games. And so we I hope he’s one that they continue to let play because I think he needs these reps. It’s unlike some of their other first round picks. Um but the the one thing that I’ll call out now because it’s been two games and within two games all of these other guys that have become um either serviceable players or Tyler Herro for instance there were moments where you just saw them pop and that has been what has lacked in the last in the first two games with Yakonis. I have not seen something where I went, “Oh shit.” Like, pardon my French. Like, I just it it hasn’t happened. So, I’m hoping that we can get a little bit of what see I guess some of the magic behind his game before um you know, summer league is over with. The other guy we’re going to talk about quickly before we go to our sponsor um is the play from a player who’s probably going to start uh if everything goes as planned. Kel Wear had 12 points, three rebounds, played 28 minutes. Uh he’s been solid. I think that there’s been ups and downs to his play uh on the defensive end so far, but your thoughts two games in with Kel where?
Yeah, if I’ll be completely honest, I like I don’t have a huge like judgment area on Kel’s like two games just because I feel like he’s I said this yesterday, but he’s kind of going through the motions. And I don’t mean that like super negatively, but he’s just he’s a player that is a starter in the NBA right now playing in summer league and he’s kind of just there like he’s just he if he has an opportunity to go and score or he has an opportunity on the role, he’s going to, you know, go for it. But it’s not like you’re getting the extra efforts. You’re not getting the extra stuff on the offensive boards. You’re not getting all that. Uh with that said, you do see a little bit of the flashes of why there is some excitement of what he can be in this league. the one play early on where he spins off a handoff, step back three. If he’s able to do that type of stuff, and I say this once again, I keep saying this when I watch his game, when he does not think, like when he doesn’t second guessess his shot, his shot is pure. When he just reacts, it’s just a different game. When he sits there with a wide open three and he kind of sits there and thinks about it for a second, you almost know it’s going to be short. You almost know it’s kind of going to be off. But that was one of the few threes of this whole process where uh of these two games where he just didn’t even think. He just turned around, stepped back, and he just let it fly. Uh same thing that the shot we talked about yesterday where he was in the mid-range and had that fade away for the N1. No, not not thinking. Just when he just turned around, he just shoots and he just plays through it. So, there’s that part of it. Uh he had the nice poster off the roll off that lob. Uh he had a couple lobs, just some opportunities there. The issue is um I mean the spacing is going to have to be correct in the regular season to really get opportunities for him in the role and that’s kind of what’s been the issue uh last season. he’s not going to see a ton of those opportunities. But I’ll say this, there is a specific type of pick and roll that has opened up opportunities for him. It’s every time they run a side pick and roll where he’s rolling down the middle of the floor, he gets so many more opportunities. When it’s on the side of the floor or if he’s baseline or different things, they have different ways to cut it off, but if if you put a shooter on the weak side corner and let him roll down the middle of the floor, he’s had opportunities. And that was kind of the one where they lobbed it up and he had the poster dunk. Um, I just like that part of it. But like to be honest, I’m not really like there’s nothing I’m taking away from Kell in summer league right now that I don’t already know or we don’t already have already seen his rookie season or expect to see next year. Uh so it’s more just about adding certain things to his game. And honestly, it’s about I I don’t expect him to play a ton of more games here obviously, but I do want to see him almost get taken off the leash for at least one game. Like just let him
get a bunch of shots up, get threes up, get mid-range turnarounds up, get his floater going, get inside on the offensive boards. like there’s been a a little bit of unselfishness from him which you want to see. I mean, that’s a good thing, but it is summer league where it’s like, “Okay, K, this is your last game in the first game of Vegas. Like, just go out there and just just go just go hoop. Just go just go put up a bunch of numbers offensively, get shots up, see what there is there. Um, because this is the kind of the time to do it. There’s not really another time where this is going to be, you know, real games being played where he can do this kind of thing.” So, I’m interested just just for a game, let’s see him get taken off the leash. to your point, when Jaime came, I think it was last summer, uh, he played limited, uh, minutes, uh, well, limited games, excuse me, but when he was out there, he was head head and shoulders. When he wanted to go get a bucket, he could go get a bucket. Um, and I think that like those are the moments that you’re hoping to see from Kell where you’ve seen flashes. I hope that they do at least let him play some in Vegas because I think that that’s where the competition level just changes in terms of uh Vegas has a different spotlight than than the California Classic. We’ll see how many minutes he gets because they still have a two-way center that didn’t play tonight in uh in Golden that they should see more of. Um, and then we’re going to talk about another guy after the break here who uh who’s surprised off the bench, but I don’t know how much we will um get the chance to know him uh for for much more than summer league, but we’ll definitely recap that. To illustrate how bad this offense has been and how the spacing has been awful, I just want to reiterate to everyone listening, the Heat shot 29% from three and the Lakers shot 33. So this is 33% excuse me from three. So this is two games in a row where like the teams are just playing mucked up ugly basketball. And so it also there’s a there’s an element of this that certain players thrive in that kind of like messy format and I don’t know that the guys that the Heat are trying to showcase at this moment are necessarily those guys. So, I’m hoping that they’ll get cleaner basketball as we go forward, particularly in Vegas, because the shooting here is just killing any momentum that they might get. Uh, we’re going to get to just anybody else that uh we should shout out. There’s a couple observations I have. We’ll uh definitely get to Brady’s last observations from game two. Before we do, want to shout out Prize Picks. That’s the official fantasy sponsor with um Five on the Floor and Five Reason Sports Network. You got to use the code five fiv. That’ll get you uh $50 instantly when you play your first $5. All you do is match up your favorite players with your favorite stats. Choose more or less on the stats. You can do flex plays, power plays, win uh up to 10 times or more of your money. You got to use the code five though. That’ll get you $50 instantly when you play your first $5. Daily Fantasy Simplified, the official Daily Fantasy sponsor of Five Reasons Network. Prize picks, use that code five. So, um, other than where and other than Yakonis from this game, what do we take? Because I’m not buying into Bryson Warren being anybody than a G-League kind of lifer. Uh they scouted and they um worked out Marcus Williams. So I was interested to see how he played and he you know he’s been up and down. Uh Eric Stevenson came back to earth in in terms of where he was in game one compared to game two. Uh but then uh they have Danger um who is a center. Uh really I I think that he probably needs to spend a year in the Heat strength and and conditioning program before we really talk about him seriously. But today he was six to seven from the field, 13 points, three rebounds. Um he just he popped in terms of his stats and the way that he contributed. He’s a big body. Your thoughts on his uh play? Yeah, I thought he played well. I mean the issue is like let’s be honest. I mean, his exact build of how he plays is what benefits in summer league. I mean, we’ve seen it time and time again over the last few years, even in Miami, whether it was uh and these guys were even able to stretch the floor. I think of Yurt Sivven, Orlando Robinson, guys that were able to play well, just kind of over, you know, bullying guys down low and being efficient, kind of just, you know, playing well around the rim. He was able to do that. I mean, he played well. Uh when I think about this roster and kind of the opportunity here, like I just he feels like another guy in the mix here that does find their Sou Falls range. He’s going to end up in the G-League range. Uh because he is a little undersized, which is the issue, I think. I mean, I say undersized, but he’s probably around Bam’s height, but um you know, the
255 pounds.
Yeah. So, he’s an undersized big that is not able to like move at that level. So, it’s like this just feels like a summer league guy. Like, let’s be real. I mean, I think he’s a good player. he played well in this game. He can be efficient down low. Um, but I’m more so looking at this roster and I think a lot of people want to hear more about the guys that really can break on to the Heat roster. Like who is the guys that can actually find a way into a two-way and have a chance? Um, Steve Settle ended up playing today. He ended up getting, you know, some reps. We wanted to see him. I’ll say
made a three. He did make a three, but I will say like on the other side of compared to Danger, um Settle looks like he one of the things was he’s undersized and he looked even more undersized than I imagined. Like he just looked very skinny out there. He looked like he’d probably get thrown around in a lot of places defensively. Even though I like him as a defender on the perimeter, he has a good wingspan and all that stuff.
Um he just he’s very he’s just undersized in general. So we’ll see where that goes. And obviously he only played 15 minutes. I’m curious to where how Miami feels about him compared to the fact that they didn’t play him in game one and then just kind of mixed him in threw him in there a little bit in game two. Uh as you mentioned, Stevenson kind of came down to earth a little bit. I still like Javvante Cook. I still think he’s kind of one of the more interesting players to me on this roster. Um just because he has the scoring upside and he’s not like relying on a certain skill like Stevenson got hot in game one, but that could fall off the map. Cook is kind of doing things in a lot of areas like he’s doing things defensively. He’s bringing the ball down, but he has played off ball. He’s good in transition. He’s good in driving. Like, he just does a lot of things well where I’d like him as a player. With all that said, if I’m being honest, I’m looking at this roster and looking at what, you know, the guys that played well today, I’d still land in the area that if Miami is looking for somebody to fill the last two-way spot, I’m doing it uh somebody away from this roster. I I think they’re going to be kind of looking around the league a little bit just because I keep falling back on the point that I think they need a specialist shooter in the in the the pipeline. I just think they need that on the two-way spot. So, I think if you’re looking around the league right now, and no, I’m not saying I mean, the guy on the other side today was in their pipeline before and kind of lit them up a little bit in Cole Swider. But, I do think
who are their two-way guys just so that we’re clear. Um, they extended the qualifying offer to
Drew Drew Smith’s still on one, correct?
Got it. Yeah. And then Golden is one. And then there’s they didn’t extend it to Isaiah Stevens, leaving that one spot available.
Or Josh Christopher. So,
or Josh Christopher. Good call.
So, they’re now they’re in a spot where they have to fill this role. And I just think they’ve learned. I mean, we’ve seen them do with R.J. Hampton. we see him do it with Josh Christopher where they get the guy that you know can pop like almost that’s why I’m kind of like as much as I say Javvante Cook can pop in the summer league. I just I I think they’re going to push back on giving that type of guy a two-way roster spot just because it hasn’t panned out for them. The the thing that’s been successful for them has been either giving it to a big man like Golden. You can see what you have there and you can kind of give them reps during the season. Especially if you if one big goes down for this team he’s probably playing in the regular season at certain points. Uh, but the same goes for shooting. I just think they might need to add a shooter to this. So, I’d be looking around the league a little bit. I’m interested just looking around in Vegas and seeing what, you know, maybe some shooters that pop out because I have a feeling that’s going to be the type of guy that Miami ends up filling the roster with.
And Bryson Warren is like, I went three of six from three tonight. I’m 50% from three. Look at me for a roster spot. I agree with you. I think that the third spot should be available to maybe somebody who doesn’t make a roster elsewhere and you you pick them off. Um the Heat have uh found guys that way. Haywood Highmith is one of them that they’ve kind of um I think was you know in in Philadelphia before and then ended up in Miami. So I’m with you there. Uh I was pretty surprised that they gave and I’m just going to start calling him Vlad because I realized earlier in this episode I called him Vladimir Golden. I’m I’m gonna mess that up all year. So, I’m just Vlad Golden is what I’m going with. Um, and hopefully that works. Uh, I was surprised that they gave him the the two-way spot straight up because to your point, like they need shooting in the pipeline, so it really boxes in this last spot. like they can’t just pick um and maybe I’m wrong and maybe they’ll say that they would do differently, but to me they can’t necessarily just go be best player available because they really need shooting in the pipeline like they’re um hopefully it can be the best player available and a good shooter. But to your point like that that’s something that is missing for sure. Anyway, uh game two of summer league is done. The Heat lose. Um but that doesn’t really matter. We’ll continue to watch these prospects all throughout the rest of summer league. Ethan will be back. U we’ll get Alex on future episodes. Thank you for listening. Shout out to our sponsor. Shout out to Brady. And uh sign up on prize picks. Use that code five. Peace.

The Miami Heat failed to win any of the 4 quarters in a 103-83 route at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers in the California Classic NBA Summer League.Kel’el Ware showed flashes, while as Kasparas Jakučionis struggled with 5 turnovers and 0 made field goals. Brady Hawk & Greg Sylvander recap the action.

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