Miami Heat Rotation in FLUX After Highsmith Injury | Nikola Jovic Impresses at Eurobasket

Miami Heat Rotation in FLUX After Highsmith Injury | Nikola Jovic Impresses at Eurobasket

With the news that Hwood Heismith just had surgery, we look at the potential impact to Miami’s rotation. Plus, Nicole Yovic represented Serbia and Eurob basket. We’ll talk about his performance in today’s episode of Locked on Heat. [Music] You are Locked on Heat, your daily Miami Heat podcast, part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. All right, welcome to Locked on Heat, your daily podcast on the Miami Heat. Whether you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app, thanks for making Locked on Heat your first listen every day. I’m Wes Goldberg here with David Mill. Both of us are credentialed Heat Media members who cover this team every day. For daily content on the Heat. Join more than 17,000 Everydayers and click that subscribe button on YouTube. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. have a jam-packed show for you today. The opening night and Christmas Day schedules have been released and Nika Yoich is impressing early on in Eurob Basket. We’ll talk about all of that here in a second, but first, the Miami Heat announced on Friday that Haywood Highmith underwent surgery for a meniscal tear in his right knee after he got injured during a workout in Baltimore. He’s expected to miss 8 to 10 weeks according to the press release. Uh, and that would mean that he won’t be available for training camp and could potentially miss the start of the season if we kind of hit the high end of that estimate there of the time that he’s missing. This is a big deal for a few different reasons, David, uh, that we can get into, but we should probably start with Haywood here. Um, first of all, this is the first major uh, injury of his career. He’s never had a major injury like this before. So, um, we don’t really know how he’s going to respond to it, but he’s, you know, famously takes great care of his body. He’s in great shape. I mean, uh, he’s he’s still pretty young. I don’t think that there’s any right off the bat, there’s no like huge long-term concerns here with the injury. So, I think that’s important to get off the top. So, in terms of his availability, 10 weeks from the surgery, that would be around October 17th, mid-occtober, right before the start of the season, the start of the regular season essentially. That’s on the high end of time that he’ll miss if we go with the press release. Now, I could tell you they are very hopeful that he won’t have to miss anytime and we’ll be ready for the start of the regular season, maybe even get some preseason action. And I know when this news was first reported and and you know, I tweet it and people are like, “Oh, well, it’s 8 to 10 weeks plus, you know, however much time it’ll take to get into game shape and get his conditioning back. He’s not going to be ready to for the start of the regular season, all these things.” I understand the concerns, but having um spoken with a few people here, I I do think that um they’re hopeful that he won’t have to miss any time in the regular season, which would be obviously great for Haywood and great for the Heat. Yeah, I’m not so optimistic. I think it’s going to be a pretty significant setback for Haywood just because those six to eight to 10 weeks, however long they might be, uh are crucial for him to train and and not just train on his own, but he’d be able to train with the team to be able to put in the work to be able to continue to develop and get into a rhythm through training camp. And I think he’ll be available. Again, if you follow the optimistic prognosis or the hope, maybe he’ll be available, but he’s still going to be a little rusty. He’s still going to be working his way through the kinks of recovery and things of that sort. And and that sets him back. And we’ve talked about this team’s depth that they might be as deep as they’ve ever been. And for a player like Haywood Heismith looking to make an impact, cracking that depth is going to be extremely difficult for him, especially if he’s already behind the eight-ball in terms of recovering from an injury. Um, it’s a great point, right? And you know, the good the good news here is that Haywood at least has been around the team for a long time. So, it’s not like he needs it’s not like he’s a newcomer who really needs to figure out the lay of the land here. So, you know, he will be around the team at training camp, which is a positive. So, he’ll at least be there for the new install of the playbook and and and be able to do whatever he can do there. Um, so that part of it is great. But like you said, I mean, if this guy I mean, this is there’s some real position battles right now going on. Yeah. On this on this depth chart, and we’ll talk a little bit more about specific players who could step up here in a second, but you know, for to miss some time, that does put you behind some of these other guys. And if you’re Heywood Highmith, this is a contract year, man. He’s a free agent next summer. And it I know it feels like a really long time away, but in basketball terms, it’s not, right? like every all of this matters and and we saw how preseason injuries kind of derailed a guy like Hime Hakez last summer or last year and how that kind of derailed his season. Now, I’m not saying that that’s going to happen with Haywood necessarily, but when anytime that there’s an injury in the middle of the summer like this that’s kind of brushing up the the uh at the start of the season, it’s just something to be concerned about or at least cognizant of. I think there’s that’s a great point. I think it’s um it would be foolish to do otherwise because you just think about it from that perspective like yeah they train all year and and it’s a good point that Haywood is at least familiar with what the Heat are trying to do but you know if he’s not out there to prove that he is better than player X why he he’s not he’s not of the status in league circles where he’s just going to automatically be given any kind of playing time or be automatically shoehorned into any kind of position in the depth chart or anything like that. So for him, it’s going to be a matter of having to continue to work and prove it and and then if you try to rush through things, let’s say he misses most of training camp and then you try to rush through this and try to perform to that level where you’re you’re proving yourself during the regular season. Um that could be detrimental to the team, you know, and not only that, but you could also put yourself at risk, too, in terms of maybe even further incurring another injury. So there’s a lot to be said there. I mean, I don’t I want to I don’t want to be overly pessimistic, but at the same time, this is kind of where Haywood’s at. Like, if you’re playing for a contract, you’re feeling a certain level of desperation of that. I don’t think there’s any doubt. And that being the case, you don’t want him to kind of rush through this and come back too soon and perhaps develop another injury related to this or try to force his way to into the rotation and perhaps, you know, maybe uh have a negative impact on the rest of the team as well. So, because I I you know, when you’re playing for your contract life in the in the league, you you’ll be willing to do those kinds of things and and I get it and I totally understand from Haywood’s perspective. So, you only hope that he’ll be available early enough so that he doesn’t have to rush his way through it, but that doesn’t seem likely and and I just think it’s too much of a risk for him. He’s not going to rush his way back. It it there’s no reason to. You know, it it does suck if you do have to end up missing the start of the regular season. It’s at the end of the day it’s like all right I missed the start of the regular season. The important part is to be available by the end of the season be healthy. To your point you don’t want to nobody wants anybody to rush back here. And with Haywood like he has a very specific skill set that I think this roster needs. It’s not as if if he’s just if he misses let’s call it the first week of the regular season which again I don’t think that that’s the expectation whatsoever. But let’s just say hypothetically he does that there’s some sort of setback in the rehab or whatever it is. I don’t think it’s going to be a situation where he’s just out of the rotation altogether when he is 100% ready. Like this is a guy who defensively is maybe Miami’s best wing defender, right? I whatever you consider DaVon Mitchell more maybe more of a point of attack guy, you know, when I’m talking about like Haywood is guarding like other wings and stuff. Wiggins is certainly up there too. Cap very capable on that end as well. But like this is a very specific skill set. He’s shot 40% from three the last couple years. I just think you know what you’re getting from Haywood. Whereas somebody like Haime, you just didn’t really know what you were getting even going into his second year. Somebody like I mean Simon Fenteo who’s brand new to the team doesn’t know anything about it. Like this would be this could potentially set him back a a big way. It’s it’s kind of weird to say it, but if this was going to happen to anybody, you would almost be like, “Yeah, Haywood might be the best guy for this to happen to cuz it’s also not like Tyler or Bam. other guys who have been long uh you know also been on the team for a long time but are obviously hugely important players to everything that you’re doing. So I don’t know I I I hear the push back. I understand the pessimism but if I could I guess I’m more of the optimist here and I just I don’t think that he’s going to miss significant time if any at all. It just it feels like everybody’s pretty hopeful around it. So um we’ll see. Like I said you never want to get hurt but if you were going to get hurt better to do it now than in the middle of the season. Fair enough. um in terms of um the the the the free agency part of this though. So, he’s making a little bit more than $5 million this year. Um the other part about this too is uh well, now that he’s out now that it’s out there that he’s going to get hurt, he’s not getting traded anytime soon. Um so, that’s part of this, I suppose. Everybody’s still technically available to get traded. Um, but I do think because this is the first major injury of his career, how he does respond to it will be important when considering what his value will be next summer. Oh yeah, of course. Um, you want to show that there’s no lingering effects, that he’s going to be back to playing at the same level, um, and able to make the kind of impact that we’re accustomed to seeing from him. um if he’s a step slow or if there’s anything that could seem like maybe he’s just especially with the shooting too like I think that’s such a big part of why he has so much value if he if he if his shooting percentage dips even significantly below before below 40%. All of a sudden he’s not nearly as attractive a 3 and D option as he was over the last couple seasons where you could say you know what despite his being a little undersized he’s a solid defender and a very good shooter. You need both of those things to work in tandem for him to have the kind of to maximize the value that you’re only three and D if you have both of the the things there. You got to be three and you got to be D. And nobody wants just a D. Nobody wants just a three. Um well with Highmith hurt, uh it does open up an opportunity for somebody to step up during training camp. I have a pretty good idea of who that person might be. We’ll talk about that next here on Locked on Heat. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. We’re all been there. Logging on early, waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale. I remember going to a ticket master booth back in the day and having to wait in line for those tickets only to lose your spot to a show you’ve been dying to see. 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Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. We’ll be right back. [Music] Thanks again for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day. So, who steps up now with Highest Smith out at least for training camp in the preseason? I do think there’s an opportunity for other players uh to get a few more reps and for some players to impress the coaching staff and step up during this point. So, when you look at the depth chart, first of all, Hwood Highmith figured to be a big part of this rotation. Uh, I have 10 guys who to me just have to play. I just think you have a top 10 on this roster. That’s pretty clear. Highmith was one of those 10 guys. Um, so when you take him out of the equation, he was like to me the natural backup to Andrew Wiggins, right? Just two guys who can come in, hit open threes, they play hard, play good defense. Like it just made sense. So with Heismith out, I think that backup spot behind Wiggins becomes a little bit more cloudy. Yeah, I would say it’s probably Jame Hake Jr. still there who, you know, doesn’t play like Wiggins but plays the same position. I think he’s there. Um I think Pella Larson is a guy who can, you know, plays hard, hustles, can guard twos and threes a little bit. Um, I think he’s there. And I think there’s a couple of other guys on the fringes, whether we’re talking about Kash Johnson or Simon Fenteo or somebody like that who could potentially, at least in training camp, get these reps, whether it was like Haywood playing with the second team. Does that go now to Kashad Johnson who kind of feels like a a training camp version of Haywood Highmith in a lot of ways? Um, does that just sort of go to him and can he make the most of those opportunities? But I to me I have my eye on one guy who I think has a real opportunity here to step up. And to me it’s Pella Larson. When you think about all the little things that Hwood Highmith does that makes him one of these guys that Eric Spolster always talks about. Make me watch you, make me play you, all these things. Pel Larson embodies a lot of that kind of stuff too. They’re different players. But in terms of just a glue guy, a connecting piece who just kind of fits into multiple kinds of lineups, I look at Larson. He’s the obvious choice. Uh he’s just a guy who who plays defense with that same intensity. He brings some of the three-point shooting ability, although he has yet to do so consistently, being able to attack and and create some things offensively. If he can cut down some of the foul trouble and things of that sort, I think he could be a positive impact player out there. So, this is a really good opportunity for him. Uh it’s a shame though that we’re talking about a second round pick in terms of him being the impact player and not a knock on Pella at all because I think both of us appreciate what he brings to the table. But I mean, we should be talking about the obvious choice here being Haime Hakees. Like, this is a great chance for him to build off of what was a disappointing season last year and to show that this new version of him is the real version of Haime moving forward, that he’s put the injuries behind him, that he’s still that scoring threat. And we’ll have to see. I I mean, I I’m curious more about Haime than anything else because I think it’s more about having a higher ceiling at this term at this point. And I think he’s he’s certainly a good enough player offensively. It’s just a matter of whether or not he brings some additional playmaking and defense. Yeah, I mean that’s really the the big part with Haime is can he step up defensively? Can he get that athleticism back? That to me is what I’m going to be. I remember walking into the FAU uh practice area uh two summers ago before, you know, when in rookie season and walking in and just seeing H like for some reason I had my camera out and my phone out, whatever. My phone out and and I just got a video of Haime flying through the air and dunking and I posted it. It goes viral. Next thing you know, Himea’s in the dunk contest. There you go. And I don’t remember any like he never displayed that athleticism in his second year. And obviously there was injuries that were a big part of it. And that’s probably like that’s why. But can he recover from those injuries? Can he bounce back from those injuries? Can he get into better playing shape, better condition? And because I just I I don’t think he was in shape last year the way that he needed to be in shape again because of the injuries. But that that stuff needs to be behind him. He has got a huge opportunity in training. This is even absent the Haywood conversation. Like this is all Hameakas junior dude. Like you’re a guy that could play 25 minutes a game off the bench for this team potentially and be part of some closing lineups the way that you were as a rookie. Yeah. Or you might just be sort of a bit player who kind of who who it comes in every once in a while and it’s hard to fit lineups around. He should be trying to supplant Andrew Wiggins in the starting lineup. Like I mean that’s that’s basically it. That that should be his ultimate goal. I I don’t know how realistic that is, but uh I think that’s where he’s supposed to be and and we just I don’t know. I wonder how much of it last year was just a matter of injuries kind of taking away something that he was barely hanging on to in terms of that kind of limited athletic explosiveness. I mean, that that that freak athleticism that we saw as in as a rookie, I don’t know, man. I don’t know if that’s a mirage or not because we just rarely saw that. But and and uh we definitely didn’t see it last year either. But I also wondered whether or not there was just limitations in his game. And I pointed this out a number of times. It just seemed like he had one attack move. Yeah. And kind of everybody had figured it out. So it doesn’t help if you’re not overtly explosive and then you really don’t have much in your bag or your repertoire. So I think it’s a great opportunity for him to continue to develop both. like if he’s just a little bit healthier and a little bit more explosive and he’s had a chance to work on some things that he can do consistently within a game context, I think he’s got a great opportunity there cuz I think he should be one of the top players in in on this roster. He should be one of the guys that contributes a significant amount of playing time and helps his team secure wins and last year that wasn’t the case. I had him in my top 10 when I talked about 10 guys who need to play every night. I still have Himeme in my 10 just to be clear. Like there’s it’s just how many minutes are we talking about? Like like I said, it could be 12 minutes a night, it could be 15, it could be 25 depending on how he performs. And there’s no reason why Himeme based off of his rookie year being first team all rookie, all the things that he was showing us, he he should be a 20-minute perame guy minimum. And absolutely, the point that you made about he only had like the one attack move is such a great point. You were on this early and Eric Spolster basically said this in Vegas. He’s like, “Look, they he got scouted.” And when you get scouted, you got to figure out counters and it’s really hard to counter when your athleticism has been sapped. The athleticism that you’re used to playing with, right? I’m not saying that Haime’s counter needs to be flying through the air and dunking all the time. It’s just I’m used to being able to move a certain way and I can’t move this way anymore and so I can’t really develop these counters cuz my body doesn’t feel right. um if he’s able to develop these counters. The other part with him too is I thought he got so just like in his head about the three-point shooting to the point where every time we asked him about anything, I could have asked him about what his favorite sandwich was and he was like, “It’s turkey, but also I need to be better at three-point shooting.” Like it it would like that was almost always where the conversation ended up with him. And Eric Sper in Vegas also mentioned like he can’t do that. like he’s right. He’s not a three-point shooter. That’s never going to really be his game. He’s not going to be a guy that’s out there on the perimeter just taking a bunch of threes. Now, he has to be able to make that shot when it’s open. But what makes Haime special is not his three-point shot. It’s his ability to eat up space, get to the basket, kind of play in that old school downhill way, and kick out to other shooters. Like, that’s his role. I think he’s much more of a play starter than a play finisher. And I just felt like last year he was trying to finish plays as opposed to start them too much. That’s fair. That’s fair. Um, do you want to talk about another option on here because I think Yeah, go ahead. Pikio is an interesting option. Like I I know when he was first brought on board, he mentioned how early on he kind of uh carved his teeth by being more of a defensive player and then kind of earning his his reputation more as a three-point shooter, etc. Are you buying his ability to be an impact defensive player? No. No. I mean, I got I’m not going to buy it until I see it. You know what I mean? like I need to this is like I I need I need to go back this thing. Yeah. I need to I need to see this. Yeah. So I I mean I don’t know if you were just overstating things a little bit or trying to just kind of change a narrative out there associated with him. But yeah I it’s hard to believe. Well no player is ever going to be out here and be like yeah defense isn’t like really where I’m strong. That’s not my bag. Like that’s not what I do. You know this is why when we brought DaVon on I was like it’s just you talk to NBA players across the league and they just say hey if I play a little bit harder I could be a good defender. And I’m like I don’t think that’s true. I don’t think defense is playing hard. I think defense is a skill. A skill that you either have or you don’t have. And DaVon has it. Bam has it. Wiggins has it. Heywood has it. I’m not saying that FKI will definitely like you could get better, but I’m not going to sit here and be like, “Yeah, Fontekio defensive wing stopper. It’d be nice. It’d be nice.” Yeah. And um I guess then lastly, Kashad Johnson. Also a good opportunity, but as we’ve talked about pretty consistently with him, it just seems like he’s kind of buried there and he’s not going to get that kind of opportunity. Now he will, at least in training camp, like I said, I could see whatever Eric Bolster and his coaching staff were thinking, hey, these are our teams. This is where Hwood was going to be in our scrimmage teams here or whatever. Kashad Johnson, like you hear about this in the NFL all the time. You got your your scout team Lamar Jackson and you just put somebody that’s like really fast on your team just run around like try to be Lamar Jackson. Teamu Haywood High Heismith, right? Isn’t that it basically? Yeah. You just got scout team Kashad Johnson. I think that’s what we’re going to or scout Kashad Johnson will be scout team Haywood Highmith, right? And there could be an opportunity for because Kashad for him to actually crack this rotation at some point eventually this year, next year, two years from whenever the three-point shot is going to have to come. At the end of the day, he’s going to have to make open threes. And if he could do that as part of the scrimmage scout team stuff, I think I think there will be actual opportunity behind the scenes for Kashad in a way that maybe there wasn’t as much before. So, we’ll see. Fair enough. Um, all right. We’re going to move on here. Coming up, um, we got some news on the NBA’s schedule. We know our Christmas Day games. We know our opening night games. Plus, Nikolovic impressing early alongside Nicola Joic. We’ll talk about that next. All right, so before we get to how Yoic looked in his first couple of Euro Basket games over the weekend, Shames reported the Christmas Day and opening night schedules. So Christmas Day, we have the five games on ABC and ESPN. We’ve got Cleveland at uh the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. We’ve got the Spurs at the Thunder. We’ve got the Rockets at the Lakers. We got Mavs at Warriors. Timberwolves at Nuggets. A couple of interesting things here, David, but what I think is really interesting, um, one just two Eastern Conference teams out of the 10 teams playing, two of them are in the East, the other eight are all in the Western Conference. And if you look at that versus opening night, opening night, Rockets at Thunder, Warriors at Lakers, the NBA is just admitting the East sucks and nobody wants to watch it this year. the two showcases they have. We’ve got what I just I said five, six, seven, seven games. Only one of them involves teams from the Eastern Conference. The some of the top players in the East are hurt though, like Jason Tatum, Tyresese Hallebertton. Okay, that’s it. Uh it took two injuries to just completely punt on an entire conference. There’s that other guy who was the alleged MVP in Philadelphia, but who knows when he’s going to be available. You know, another big takeaway here. Philly and Embiid used to be a staple on Christmas Day and they are no longer right. Um, and rightfully so, by the way. They don’t deserve to be there. So, I mean, you look around, Cleveland should definitely be there. The Knicks should be there. That’s the problem, though. Why schedule the Cleveland versus the Knicks? Like, that’s another opportunity. It’s like, you got two good teams that you know you’re going to draw there. Cleveland being one allegedly and New York being another. Like, they should be playing other teams, right? Like not just putting them out there just Oh, you mean like spread out the east to have them go west or something? Yeah, that’s not bad. I mean, you have to have Madison Square Garden is a staple. So, if somebody has to play in New York, um I don’t Yeah, I guess I don’t know. I kind of like Cleveland and New York playing in prime time just because he’s the probably going to be the two best records in the East. I I like watching them in a in a prime time slate go up against each other. But like I know that we’re just I know that they waved Damen Lord and all this. Like why is Giannis not on Christmas every year? Y he’s so fun to watch. Everybody likes wa Your uncle who never watches basketball will enjoy watching Giannis. He’s a freak. He’s the Greek freak. Like why is he not playing on Christmas? Yeah. The rest of that roster though kind of tough to swallow. Who cares? It’s Giannis. I mean it’s like like I look at a team like Dallas. Why is Dallas playing on Christmas? Why does this team continue to get rewarded for stuff? And I I tweeted this and they’re like, “Cooper Flag, oh, Klay Thompson versus Steph Curry.” Okay, first of all, we’re two years since Klay has left. Okay, nobody cares about Klay versus Steph anymore. Wow. And we’re giving Cooper Flag this kind of treatment as a rookie right away. Can we see if he’s good first? I think he’s going to be good, by the way. I like Cooper Flag a lot, but we’re giving the rookie that kind of Yeah, that’s that’s pretty typical, though. that that shouldn’t be all that surprising. Um, from Duke, etc. I guess I think the great white guy he takes a lot of boxes in terms of being able to draw those peripheral fans. He’s like, “Oh, you know, is he the, you know, the next solid player, etc.” You know, I mean, I don’t know. I mean, the hype about him was so much greater earlier on this year, and I think it’s kind of weaned a little bit as the draft leaned kind of took place, but um, I think there’s still expectations there. Summer League was a little disappointing, I would say. I I don’t think it’s No, I thought I was really impressed with him at summer league. I know he didn’t shoot it well the first night, but overall I like this floor game. That’s sort of the benefit of kind of being there and watching it. I I think like I’m not even paying attention to the box score with him. I just Yeah, no, I get that. Yeah. But no, look, I’m not I’m not trying to diss Cooper flag. I’m just saying like if you needed to figure out a way to if you needed to figure out a way to put more Eastern Conference teams in your most important day of the year, Yeah. taking Dallas out of it would have made sense. Like I get Houston versus Lake. I get it. KD versus LeBron and Luca, like that’s awesome. Spurs versus Thunder, that’s going to be here forever. Get used to it and I’m here for it. Webby versus Cadet. Sho versus Alexander defending champs local. Like I get that. Minnesota versus like Nikolai Joic by the way is slowly becoming a staple on Christmas also. Yeah. Like he’s there. Denver is always hosting a late game and having Anthony Edwards like that’s the best way to finish. Like I have no problem with most of it, but if you’re trying to find a way to do it that I I guess Dallas would have been the one team I would have taken out. Then opening night, Houston at Oklahoma City. Very cool. You know, Kevin Durant being there for ring night. That’s pretty awesome. That’s pretty awesome. Some Yeah, that’s a nice storyline there. I I know he’s going to play it up and be like, “Nah, it doesn’t matter to me. I haven’t played here for so long. I’m just happy for the organization, blah, blah, blah.” But I just can’t. Yeah. Yeah, it’s going to for sure. Even if they have to wind up editing it somehow. Uh, it’s an interesting slate of games and uh, yeah, Miami has a lot of work to do to get there. I think the entire question. Yeah, I I don’t think anybody’s interested in seeing anything that the Heat have to do right now. I mean, we talked about the win totals and the Vegas projections last year, last week, excuse me. And um, while we were a little bit uh, optimistic they would be able to surpass those projections, I don’t know that there’s still a marquee team that’s going to draw your peripheral fan. Like, no one’s going like, “Oo, wow. Did you see what did Tim Legler say the other day? They’re boring. They’re I’m bored of the Heat. Yeah, I’m bored. I’m like, “Yeah, I get I watch it every game, buddy.” Yeah. I like I I have now he took the under just out of boredom, which I’m like not sure that’s the best way to spend your money, but No. Um I do think they’re going to go over the win total, but I if you if you’re bored of the Heat, I can’t I can’t tell you not to be, right? And I I do think that there’s an idea around them. But um yeah, to to your point, it’s going to be a while, I think, until they land on Christmas or on opening night again. But hey, it’s I guess if you’re a Heat fan, don’t feel too bad because it’s the entire Eastern Conference that no that everybody’s bored of. It’s not just you, everybody. It’s the whole It’s the whole neighborhood. Everybody’s bored of finally. Finally, we’re actually the Eastern Conference. You know what? It’s from a pers from a personal perspective. It’s great to not be able to have to work on Christmas Day. So, I love Well, don’t what what what night do you have uh locked on NBA? Is it Wednesday? Let’s see. Don’t don’t speak too soon. No, Thursday. We’re both out of it. We both got out of it. It’s a Thursday. Christmas is on a Thursday this year. All right. Nice. Um All right. Uh really quick, Nikolovic uh is playing with team Serbia during Eurob Basket. They had a couple of friendlies kind of practice warm-up games over the weekend. Uh Serbia played Greece and Cyprus. Yoic played well in both of those games. He had nine points, five rebounds, an assist, and a steal in 24 minutes for Greece. And then six points, four rebounds, five assists in 17 minutes uh against Cypress. That five assist number jumps out. Um he’s shooting it pretty good, especially from three-point range over the course of those two friendlies. Um, but what I want to talk about, there was a play where Yoic got the ball from Nicola Joic who’s on his team. Yeah. And Joic is in that dribble handoff spot, passes it off to Yoic. Yoic just off the dribble kind of or on the move grabs the ball, shoots a three, makes it. And I don’t know, my imagination just started going cuz I don’t we never we saw some high low actions with Nico and Bam, but we didn’t really see that. And we know what Bam’s going to do with the dribbling. Like Bam’s in that spot all the time just where like where Jokic is, right? I would I would love to see that happen this year for Miami to see Yovic coming off curling off a off a BAM DHO and and shooting it for for a three-pointer and and like all the things that you can get out of that like that could be a trigger to other high low actions. That could be a trigger to like a Nico Bam pick and roll, a Nico Bam pick and pop. Like there’s a lot of things that you can get to from that. I think it’s really interesting. Yeah, I So do I. I I’m hoping that Eric Spolstra allows Nico to kind of play a little bit more unhinched, kind of let him off the leash a little bit as as Bam and B used to always say, but I I think Spo kind of a little bit more rigid in that sense. I don’t know. I I think again we talked about it in terms of Nico like his size and versatility make him such an intriguing player and why we expect him to be an impactful one too because he has those a very unique blend of skills and he just has to have the opportunity to showcase them and I don’t know that Miami always does that more to that point though he’s also ch been challenged with kind of trying to deal with injury and things of that sort and so he’s got if he’s able to stay healthy that’s the first step and from there it’s up to him to kind of show that he can do different things. And I I liked what we saw from him in his first Europe Euro basket game there. I think that was an in an interesting way of showcasing some of that versatility. And he does also look I I hate to go on muscle watch this early, but let’s do it. He also does look like he’s a little bit more fit than he has been in the past. And that’s great. Uh because he’s going to get challenged as a as a young European player in the NBA. He’s going to get challenged. And we’ve seen that from some guys who want to get physical and and and you know trying to not allow him the room to work there. And if he can just muscle up and just establish himself in that sense, I think that would go a long way towards him having that a higher baseline of confidence uh that he’s going to be building this summer by working with Euro Basket and then kind of just take that into the training camp. He just he needs to keep it going positively cuz we’ve seen from Nquin in the past if he has a little bit of an obstacle it just goes down the toilet and we need him to to kind of just stay in that positive vibe and I think he’s going to get it because it seems again one of the benefits of playing with I don’t know the greatest player in the world in Joic is that he kind of just he enables everybody to thrive like he just he the old axiom of like does he make the players around him better that’s all he does that’s all Joic does while also 30 points and rebound tonight. Yeah, it’s great. No, it’s a great point and that’s what I’m so excited to see Nico play with with Jokic is because he will get to experience that, but he’s also going to be able to learn from Jokic, right? And Nico has been very open about how much he admires Jokic and every time Denver’s in town, they go get dinner and stuff they they spend or they spend some time together. And so, I think that that relationship is really important, but for him to actually spend time on a basketball court in a competitive setting in Euro Basket, that’s great. The other things I’m looking for from Nico in Euro Basket is to see how many minutes he’s getting, specifically at the end of these games, some of these close games that Serbia will inevitably start playing here. Um, I think that’s a big thing. But look, if you and I are noticing stuff like this that they’re doing in Serbia, Eric Spolster is noticing it, too. He’s watching all of these games. He’s watching Nico with them. He’s watching Fontekio on Italy. He’s watching Norm Pal with Jamaica. Like, he’s watching all of these games just to see. And uh I bet that when he sees Nico coming off a DHO with a handoff being from Niko Jokic, I would be shocked if he didn’t have the same thought we had where it’s like Bam could do that. Why not? So, we’ll see. We’ll see what ends up happening there. Um we’ll be covering Euro Basket a ton when the games actually start mattering towards the end of this month and anything that happens before that, of course, obviously with some of these uh friendly games and and warm-up sess uh sessions and things like that. But for now, thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen today. For your second listen, find the Locked on NBA podcast where there is no offseason. Doug Matt and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Locked on NBA on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day.

Will Haywood Highsmith miss the start of the Miami Heat season? The Heat announced that Highsmith will miss 8-10 weeks after a meniscal tear he sustained during a workout.

Wes Goldberg and David Ramil discuss the latest around his injury and what it means for Miami’s rotation. Then they talk about a funny thing with the NBA’s Christmas Day and Opening Night schedules before looking at what the Heat can learn from how Nikola Jovic is being used on Serbia’s Eurobasket team.

0:00 Intro
1:30 Haywood Highsmith injury impact
11:33 Players who could step up for Heat
16:46 Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s opportunity to improve
21:31 NBA Christmas and opening night schedules
28:13 Nikola Jovic impressing in Eurobasket

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