Mark Jones on the Miami Heat, Norm Powell & NBA | Five on the Floor

Mark Jones on the Miami Heat, Norm Powell & NBA | Five on the Floor

Welcome to the latest episode of Five on the Floor on the Five Reason Sports Network. Thanks for joining us on your favorite podcast app. On Apple, recommend Apple podcast. On Android, we recommend Spotify. Also, check out the Five Reasons YouTube channel. Also, we tell you all the time to check out Off the Floor. That’s our Discord server. That’s two bucks 99 per month. The link is right here in the description. You can bypass the Apple Upcharge, subscribe at any time, cancel at any time, and you get access to 10 different channels, the most heat information and conversation, plus our stage shows, and more. So, check it out. It’s off the floor. Also, prize picks. Use the code five fiv. Put down your five bucks. You get $50 to play right away. Price picks the official fantasy sponsor of the Five Reason Sports Network. We know that we don’t have NFL yet, but you do have NFL preseason NBA coming up soon. We’re going to get the schedule, the rest of it in the next few days, so you’ll know what to play there. and of course baseball, WNBA, and more. Check it out. It’s prizefix.com. Use the code fibe. And now today’s episode heat nation. Yeah. Mercy down the gang. Y five on the floor. Ride for my dogs. Where’s the thing? You can check the score. Hustle hard. Couple scars. Got all y’all seen the stop with one hand and we trust have the guts. We’re here to bring the heat. Y’all can hang it up. 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. All right, welcome back to Five on the Floor. We’re proud to be joined again by our friend Mark Jones. You can find him at ESPN doing all kinds of things there, including the NBA. Also, Sacramento Kings. He’s a play-by-play man out there. And Western resident, which is how I know him, and Miami ProLeague attendee, we’ve got to witness Hassan Whiteside in all of his 8% body fat splendor up close, and you’ll be there again uh later this week. I It’s It’s fun though, isn’t it? Like I I’ I’ve gone out there a couple times. Like, it’s very very very competitive. You got Remy’s team, we The Ones, all of that. It’s in North Miami. But for people who say this ain’t a basketball town, you have been saying for a while, this kind of is a basketball town, right? It is, man. It’s a great environment there. You go out there to uh Johnson and Wales University on a Tuesday or Friday night and catch three great games. You get a lot of uh NBA players popping in. You got overseas, international players, pros popping in. And uh got the championship game this weekend. Miami Pro Friday night. It’ll be team Remy against we them ones and you know Michael Beasley be getting a b bunch of buckets whiteside uh Brandon Knight you know Josh Hart usually shows up both teams will bring in their hitters quote unquote for the championship game and the great storyline about this one this year is is that uh you know I think it’s we them ones have beaten team Remy three straight years in the championship game so they can’t go out like the Buffalo Bills man this ain’t it you Okay, this is Spo’s dream, uh, Mark, to to have Beasley and Whiteside on the court at the same time, the PTSD. My god. But no, but Khan Johnson for the Heat played extremely well. Watched him play last week and uh, you know, did a bunch of great things. He must have like five dunks in the first half off Ali Yukes. Great finisher at the rim and locked down defender. Um, man, on top of what I saw from him in summer league, uh, definitely going to be a significant piece, I think, in terms of the rotation for the Heat this year. Yeah, we’re going to talk more about him as we go forward. I I know that, uh, Beasley obviously gets buckets in this thing. I was there. D’Angelo Russell was there one night. Of course, Brandon Knight went to my alma mater, Pinerest was a first round pick. Uh, so plenty of these guys make it out there. But you also have the chance, this is one of the reasons I want to bring you on this week. We always want to be gone. But one of the reasons is uh you spent some time with Norm Powell at FAU training with the Jamaican team and then we’ve seen Norm play really well for Jamaica including a 30 34-point game. Yeah. After having the flu. Um but you got a chance to spend some time with Norm and you’re you’re bullish on Norm with the Heat, right? Yeah. Just a great uh forceful player at both ends of the court. um a guy that uh really coming off a career year last year. You saw the numbers and if you watched him, you saw that um he is still on an awkward upward arc I think right now. Uh as for the fit in Miami, I think it it’s he’s a heat type of player. I mean, he’s excited about being here in Miami. Um he’s looking for uh potentially an more of an expanded role offensively because there were, you know, James Harden’s very ball dominant, albeit he’s an all-star. Kawhi Leonard is going to get his, you know, 15 to 20 shots per game. There are a lot more mouse defeat, I think, with the Clippers as opposed to the more of the egalitarian system that Spo likes to run with the Miami Heat. So, uh, coming off the summer he had with Jamaica. And, you know, a little side note to him playing, he had that 34-point game in the clincher, uh, against Costa Rica in overtime. This was preceded by him. I spoke with him, Ethan. He was He got some pizza. Okay. It wasn’t the Kobe Burger, right? He got pizza in the middle of the night about, you know, I don’t know, it was late at night about 10:00, 11:00 before he went to sleep. By 3:00 a.m. It was coming out of both ends, if you know what I mean. Sure. And there were doctors on the scene. uh they weren’t sure that he was going to play, but really speaking to the type of player that he is, he said, “Now, I didn’t come this far just to come this far. I’m playing tomorrow.” So, you know, got some IVs, got some fluids, and came back with a crazy clutch performance to get Jamaica qualified for the next round of uh FIA FIA World Cup qualifiers. So, he hit a corner three late in that game with three Costa Rican players hanging all over him that really said everything you need to know about Norm Powell. So, it was a great story and I know that when I was up there at FAU, he he gifted a lot of his Jamaican teammates uh some nice merch and some some goodies and uh it meant a lot to them to see that he was all in, that this isn’t a mercenary type of situation, that he’s along for the long ride. Well, it’s an interesting parallel because he’s in the last year of his contract with Miami. And so, as we look ahead to that, you know, I have an inclination that they may decide to keep him around a little bit. Uh he’s in the last year of his deal. It was a five-year $90 million contract. Uh obviously, he’s outplayed that. I looked at the top 40 scorers in the NBA last year. He was 24th and the lowest paid. So, if you take a look at that, you say, “Okay, this is a guy who obviously going to want a bit of a payday this offseason, but I think they may be able to come to something that makes sense.” And I just think even as they’re pivoting to more of a youth movement, so to speak, to have one veteran in there who uh other guys can look to and trust, I I think is important there. What is What do you think What do you think of the fit uh with him and Tyler in the back court? Because I think that’s going to be one of the questions here about how seamless that might be. Yeah. And you know, I think um I think you may lose a little bit having Tyler on the ball a lot with those two, but then you know, I I don’t see Powell initiating a whole lot, but he’s capable as a as a playmaker. He can run some ball screen actions. Um I think that there’s a way to make that work. I don’t think it’s not I don’t think it’s a bad fit. Um, it’s certainly something that, you know, they would have to finesse a little bit. Um, you know, on the offensive end, uh, defensively, I think, you know, I don’t know what the numbers say about Norm, but the eye test tells me he’s a plus defender. So, with those two guys in the back court, that certainly, uh, that that helps out Tyler a little bit, right? Well, yeah, and I think Norm came into the league as as a plus defender. I think the metrics were not great last year, but my feeling is in this system he’ll be better. I I just feel like that’s something and I know Tai focuses on it too obviously, but right I I I do think that getting him into the system uh will help. I we have to say this too because you know for those who don’t know, you’re an original Miami Heat season ticket holder. You you you do call it Kings Games, but you have an interest in this team. Uh, and you were out there when I was out there, uh, in Vegas for summer league, and I was just curious for some of your thoughts about that, about what you saw out there, because you mentioned Kishad. Um, and that I know he’s impressed you. Uh, we also saw the rookie Casper Hakachonis out there. We talked about him a little bit. Do you think he’s close to contributing based on what you saw? Uh, I I I’m not sure that he’s going to be a rotation player early. I I um I saw him struggle at times, not just in Las Vegas, but in San Francisco at the California Classic to uh to get by guys. And uh in summer league, that’s not a great barometer. Um although, you know, sometimes you always have to take summer league with a grain of salt. I remember watching Brandon Pajki for the Warriors play in summer league and he was by his own admission awful. Yes. As as a rookie going into his rookie season, and he ended up having a fantastic season. So, uh, you have to take that with a grain of salt. But in some of the the litmus test items, uh, for his position, uh, being able to go get your own at the end of the shot clock, last 5 seconds, um, at the end of the, uh, a quarter or half. Um, I didn’t see a lot of burst there in terms of being able to, uh, use the selfch checkckout line, as I like to say, right? Um, but uh, as as a defender in the Heat team system, I think he’ll be okay. You know, collegiately, I spoke with a bunch of scouts that that watched him play in in the conference this year at Illinois and, um, um, a better shooter than he was, of course, in the small sample that we saw in summer league. But, um, defensively, he’s going to need some work, and he’ll have to be a good team defender. But, uh, long story short, I don’t I don’t know that he’s a top seven or eight guy to start the year for the to start this. So, let’s pivot to this and I want to get into some of your other summer league thoughts and kind of other players that you saw that because you mentioned some guys like Trey Young had a bad initial summer league. Uh, Brunson had a bad one, but I I saw some of what you saw. I I was out there too and I think he has a craftiness to his game. He’s going to have to clean up the turnovers and I do think it is you have to be able to get by somebody. I I that’s what I’m curious to see if if he can do that. But your your thoughts on the overall Heat direction because we we’ve been doing a bunch of State of the Heat episodes here. Yeah. Where we’ve been talking about, okay, where are they right now? Like they they stole Norm. I mean, I don’t think there’s any question. I mean, they didn’t really give up anything of significance there. They got a player who’s going to be a 20 point scorer for them. Uh they’ve got some young players. Obviously, Hakis took a step back. Yoic, we’re kind of still waiting to see if he can stay healthy. where you were out there. They kind of called him out out there. Then he played better after that. Um Larson I think showed some things. I think you called one of the games that that he showed some things out there. But and then they have Bam and Tyler. Like where do you see them in terms of their build and in terms of the East because most most people have them in that seven to9 range again. Yeah. I you know that’s you mentioned it. That’s where you start with the Miami Heat. It’s it’s Bameabio. It’s Tyler Hero and those guys are the fulcrum of everything that’s going to happen, especially at the offensive end. And I mean, offensively, Miami, what were they 19th? I think bottom bottom third last year offensively. Um, I I think that there’s an opportunity for Eric to do something for Coach Po to do something drastic this year. I think there’s an opportunity with the personnel that he has to um follow the blueprint that the Pacers did this year is, you know, you you don’t have a starladen roster. You know, you’ve got two guys who have been allstars, but you’ve got Powell who’s I think arguably an all-star last year even. Well, Wiggins is three, but I don’t know that he’s at that level right now. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And Wiggins as well. you’ve got the opportunity to follow the trend of the Pacers and play full court, uh, play at a frenetic pace. I know we’ve heard that from Spolster before, right? Every year we’re more threes and play faster, right? And then they’re always bottom five in pace and then he’s complaining. He’s doing this during the season trying to get guys to run because his his whole thing is everybody says they want to run until you let them and then once you let them, they don’t want to do it anymore. Yeah, that’s true. And and I saw in see like Rick Carile went through an incredible seismic shift, right? I remember the days when Rick Carile used to make 70 play calls per game and here they are last year arguably outside of Memphis, maybe the most quote unquote random team offensively in the NBA. So I think there’s an opportunity for Spo. One thing one thing Spo is not afraid to do is he’ll take chances once in a while. um he he’s really good at being introspective, self- scouting, and coming up with a new plan. And I think there’s an opportunity with the personnel grouping they have, Ethan, starting with those two guys, Bam and Tyler and Powell and Wiggins, uh to be able to do something drastic in an Eastern Conference that to this second is wide open. I mean, if if you can play 89 deep and pick up 94 feet and be able to manage just enough minutes and bodies to make it through the regular seat. I think it’s a great blueprint for the way that the Heat can play with the guys they have. No, it’s an interesting thought. I mean, we’re going to talk a little bit more about the East on the other side of this because I It’s not just that it’s wide open. I think it’s the weakest. It’s been And this is a this is a 25 to 30 year cycle of it being weak. Yeah. The the eight seed in the this is a crazy stat. The eight seed in the west has had a better record than the eight seed in the east in 28 of the last 30 years. Wow. Yeah. I mean that’s a cycle that’s a cycle that hasn’t shifted and in fact it’s gone back even this off season it went back the other and everybody in the east hasn’t torn ailles. So it’s like it’s crazy. It’s weird man. It is weird. I uh I looked at that Christmas day schedule and I thought yep I knew that was coming. only two teams from the Eastern Conference, New York and Cleveland on Christmas Day. And you know, what do you do? Do you take a flyer on the 76ers and gamble that they’re going to be healthy and throw them in the mix? Milwaukee has been a team that has been on the cusp a lot of times of being either in or out of Christmas Day and they’re not in it this year. So, I mean, if I’m the schedule maker, yeah, I I can see where they’re justified in going the way they did. Trust me, I’d love a Christmas day at home and here in Miami, but I I didn’t see that happening. No. And suppose nine and0 in Christmas Day games, but he’s not going to get another opportunity at least this year and probably not for the next couple. They got they got to get a bonafide star, I think, for that to happen. And we talk about the East, it’s it’s there’s a lot of stock being put in Philadelphia being potentially healthy and Orlando and Detroit popping. Like that’s that could make it more interesting. But I thought Detroit might have had a chance of making the Christmas Day schedule. They’re kind of the new sexy toy, right? Mhm. And I think Kate Cunningham has a chance to be the next big star, especially because in the East there’s going to be a chance to elevate, but again, you just don’t you just don’t really know. All right. On the other side of this, we’ll get to some general NBA stuff. We’re going to try to go rapid fire. I’m very bad at this, but we’re going to try to go rapid fire here uh with Mark. I don’t do anything rapid fire, unfortunately. Or fortunately. Anyway, if uh here’s something you don’t want to do rapid fire, find a house. Uh reach out to our folks at Real Estate Shop. You can find them at real estatefl.com. That’s two P’s and an E. Real estate shopfl.com. The Fort Lauderdale Realtor on Instagram. Amanda and Javier. They’ll help you walk through the entire process from beginning to end. Whether you live out in Weston like Mark or in Fort Lauderdale like me, they cover all of Broward County. So check them out. It’s the real estate shop F. It’s real estate shopfl.com or the Fort Lauderdale Realtor on Instagram and check out all of their open houses. All right, let’s do a little of this here because I know you canvas the entire league. Uh let’s just let’s just start here. Is this LeBron’s last season in your opinion? I don’t think so. I think he’s got I think he’s got at least one more after this because every time I think that he’s going to pack it in, he plays well enough to make all NBA again. I I just don’t think so. Does he finish there? Yes, I could see he would. Yeah. Yeah, he’s content enough there, I think. you know, and I I in my estimation, I think he’s he’s embraced um being an Angelino. Yeah. You know, I I think so. I I don’t think the winning the championship thing is that important to him anymore. No, no, I I really don’t. I think that I think that ship sailed uh a little while ago. Who in your view had the best off season in the West? Western Conference. Um boy, I know Denver’s up top. I’d have to say Denver. Yeah. Yeah. Is that enough to put them on a on a line with OKC now, do you think? I mean, no. Okay. They added Tim Hardaway Jr. They I I love to trade for Cam Johnson. Yeah. Um they added Valenunis as a backup center. Like they’ve definitely fortified it, but you still think OKC is a level above. I think I think there’s OKC and everybody else. And I think when Dallas becomes whole with Kyrie, they’re going to be a problem, you know. Yeah. Well, we’ll see when that is. That could be as early as February, we’re thinking. uh that that could actually happen. Uh did did New York did the Knicks upgrade or downgrade by going well this is a tough one for you because you know Mike you know you know you know Mike. So did so going from Tibido to Mike Brown. How do you think that works? I’ll rephrase it. How how does that work in New York? I I love Tibs and I love Mike Brown and I think the New York Knicks are going to take a quantum leap offensively this year because I witnessed firsthand uh 247 Mike Brown being able to uh change the culture which he won’t have to do in New York and supercharge the offense in Sacramento. And at the time they had a historically high offensive rating of right around 120 or 121 with the DHO game. And um I think you’re going to see Carl Anthony Towns in particular have a career year. Okay. In New York playing playing through him. Uh okay. A couple of others here. We talked about Philadelphia a little bit. Um I mean they have a lot of talent. I don’t think there’s any question. But what do you trust it? No. Right. Let me let me see if Let me call Drew Hanland and see where Joel Embiid is, man. Well, I don’t know if Drew is gonna tell you the truth, but yeah, I I got you. It’s all It’s all about Joel’s health. It really is. And you know, it’s interesting. I was watching, it was the one-year anniversary of USA basketball winning the gold in the Olympics a couple of days ago, this weekend, and I was watching the gold medal, no, the semi-final game against Serbia. And nobody talks about this, but Joel Embiid handled Joker. Yeah, he did half of that game. He did. Go back and watch it, Ethan. He handled him like he scored it well, and he defended well, too. That’s the last great version we’ve seen of MD, you know? I mean, he had a good start to the regular season before he got hurt, but it was too short. Yeah. No, no, no, no doubt. I mean, look, I I think that there’s there’s weapons there. here. I mean, you’ve got Maxi McCain coming off the injury. McCain coming back. They drafted Edgecomb. I mean, like, there are pieces there, but again, I don’t know uh h how that’s going to end up how that’s going to end up playing out. They’re too young. They’re too young. But those guys for Embiid’s for Embiid’s timeline. I I think they’re they’re too young. All right, I’m going to put you on the spot here with the last one. You can make one change. One change not to the country because I know there are a lot of those that you like to make. So would I. And that’ll be a two-hour podcast and we’ll end up getting ourselves in trouble. That’s a side conversation. You can make one change to the league right now. What would you do? One change. I would um shorten the schedule by 10 games and I would eliminate all backtobacks. Okay. I just I there’s no way that you can recharge your body in that short of time and play quality basketball or three games in four nights. I know we have fewer of those, but if I’ll I’ll narrow it down. I would eliminate back to backs. Okay. Well, you could do that probably by eliminating the 10 games because that that’s about But you know, they’re not you know, they’re not going to do that. Like that’s there’s there’s there’s Yeah, there there’s too much money. Instead, they’re inventing these inseason cups that I’m trying to follow. Do you follow it? I can’t follow it. I I I I love the inseason there Cup. Yeah, I loved it. I love I love the fact that the Lakers won it the first year, Milwaukee won it last year. See, I didn’t remember who won it last year. What’s that? I don’t remember who won it last year. I remember the Lakers winning it because of course, you know, I’ll let you work for made a big deal of that, but I but I don’t I don’t remember who won it last year. All right. All right. So So then this one it juices it juices up the start of the season, right? While everyone else is still kind of into NFL, it juices up the early part. They’re still they’re still into NFL, Mark. And and for the Heat, it just gave them an excuse to put that ridiculous thing on the court, which I is not going to be is not going to be on there anymore. It’s not as interesting as those yellow seats we used to have at the arena. Well, they’ve got they they’ve gotten rid of those. They they’ve gotten rid of those. Uh who’s your MVP pick? Um I’m gonna go Oh, boy. I’m gonna go Giannis. I was think well if they finish top three in the East with that roster then yes that’s the worst roster he’s had. I like he’s great he’s going to put up great numbers which he has been doing the last couple of years over 30 points per game over 60% from the field. I mean he was the first one to do that two years ago and right his numbers could be even better this year. You know, I think I think it’s Joker just because I think Denver ends up with a two seed in the West and I think he gets some credit for that. But I could see it. See what See, to me it’s Giannis if he again if he gets them to a top three seed because I I have not seen them put together that mediocre a group around him. It’s not a good team. And I that’s again, you know, Heat fans are hoping we’re doing that whole thing again. But hey, listen. I I I blew it I blew it for the Heat Nation several years ago and during a walkth through he comes up to me. He says, “Mark, you live down here, right?” He says, “Yeah.” I said, “Yeah.” I said, “What’s it like living here?” And I was like told you told him it was the greatest place ever, didn’t you? I did. Yes. I was going to say there’s no traffic. Everybody’s polite, right? Everybody’s polite. There’s no traffic. You don’t have to tip at restaurants. It’s It’s the easiest place to live. Right. Yeah, right. I got I got great Greek restaurants with wonderful tasty saziki sauce. Well, that that we do have actually. That’s that’s accurate. The no traffic thing in the the in all honesty. I told him I said Miami has fantastic neighborhoods. It’s not everything you see on TV. That’s right. That’s exactly right. Well, we’ll see. He’ll end up with a heat when he’s 38 years old. Mark, we appreciate it. I’m going to try to get out there to see you on Friday night at Miami Pro Leagues. Everybody check that out. It’s a good time. It’s going to be standing room only though on Friday though. You bet you you better you better get there early. Get there early on Uber is what I recommend. We’ll post it on off the floor so everybody knows where to go. Mark, thank you very much, sir. Appreciate it. Appreciate you, Ethan. Keep up the great work, man. Thanks for having me. Thank you.

Local resident, original Miami Heat season ticket holder and ESPN/Sacramento Kings broadcaster Mark Jones joins Ethan Skolnick to talk about watching Norman Powell at Jamaican training camp, the Heat’s prospects and the rest of the NBA.

Sponsors: RealEstateShoppeFL.com and PrizePicks.com (FIVE)

Join us on our Off The Floor Discord server for the most Heat anywhere! Get exclusive insider information, along with updates/stats/insights from the 5OTF crew and hang out with other Heat fans. https://discord.gg/5otf (Scroll down after clicking)

5OTF Special Offers:
*https://go.happinessexperiment.com/begin-aff-o2?am_id=podcast2025&utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=michael
* Check out Mood and use my code FIRST20 for a great deal: https://mood.com

If you want more exclusive Miami Dolphins content, join OnlyFins on Discord: https://discord.gg/onlyfins

If you’re interested in sponsoring Five Reasons, contact us at fivereasonssports@gmail.com