LAS VEGAS – As the Miami Heat’s two most recent first-round picks play on at the Las Vegas NBA Summer League, coach Erik Spoelstra voiced decided optimism about what could come next from the previous two.
For Kasparas Jakucionis (2025) and Kel’el Ware (2024) the games continue on the UNLV campus, including Sunday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Monday night against the Boston Celtics.
But while taking in that action, Spoelstra offered confidence about his team’s next steps with Nikola Jovic (2022) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (2023).
With Jovic and Jaquez each having paid their summer-league dues in previous years, Spoelstra said it is time for the next step this coming season.
Jovic, taken at No. 27 in 2022 out of Serbia, already has put in offseason time on the Heat practice court at Kaseya Center, with international time looming later this summer with Serbia at EuroBasket.
Spoelstra said a fourth-year leap with the 6-foot-10 forward certainly is within the realm.
“He’s a unique skillset,” Spoelstra said of the playing big man. “So part of his strength is making other players better. Some of it is these plays in between, unscripted, is oftentimes where he’s at his best. He also can get lost, like any player, if you’re in strictly in those areas, where you can get lost in the sauce.
“So he can play on the ball. But we have a lot of guys that can play on the ball. So there’s going to be a balance right there.”
In the wake of his criticism of the effort of Ware, Spoelstra said the lesson is how Jovic, 22, has evolved.
“His growth also will continue to be the professionalism, the consistency of growth, his work ethic, which if you compare that to where it is right now, that’s why I’m encouraged for him,” Spoelstra said of Jovic, who entered the NBA as a 19-year-old “If you look at where Niko was as a rookie to where he’s becoming right now, it’s night and day, the work ethic and it’s a consistency of approach every single day.”
As with this summer, Jovic played for Serbia’s national team the past two years, at the 2023 World Championships in the Philippines and the 2024 Paris Olympics, sharing in silver at the World Championships and bronze at the Olympics.
“I think the last two summers have been really good because it’s been a strong balance of the Miami Heat player development program and then going to play for his national team,” Spoelstra said. “I think that’s helped his maturity.”
Soon it will be back to work under Serbia coach Svetislav Pešić.
“It means a lot to that team, every player, every coaching staff,” Spoelstra said. “You can’t just go in there casually. So I think that’s been as important as the stuff we’ve been doing. And I think this summer we have big expectations.
“The first year, he was a token starter in the World Championships and in moments of truth he wasn’t playing. Coaches will play who they think will win. Last year, he was probably the eighth or ninth or 10th man on the biggest stage. So my challenge to him was, well break into the rotation, make that Hall of Fame coach earn your trust. And it’s all with the consistency. It’s the winning things. It’s your approach. It’s no different than here.”
To Spoelstra the opportunity for a winning offseason for Jovic already is under way.
“Niko had a really good June and late May. He’s put on some strength, too. He’s just going to come back looking different,” he said. “Every year, he comes back stronger, bigger. I’m excited about his improvement.”
As for Jaquez, drafted No. 18 out of UCLA in 2023, it remains about leaning into what he does best, with an attacking game.
“We had some really good conversations. I told him I don’t necessarily like the dialogue of you just have to get back to who you were your first half of the rookie year,” Spoelstra said of what led to an All-Rookie selection before a sophomore dropoff last season.
Spoelstra said it now is about Jaquez beating the scouting report.
“He’s a downhill guy. He really is. He’s aggressive. He’s crafty. He’s clever, when he gets into all of his spins and fake spins and putting the shoulder down,” Spoelstra said. “Now it’s about making the paint-decision reads when you get in there. Because he’ll improve his shooting. Everybody always does with us.
“But I don’t want it to be his whole game based on whether he’s making a 3-point shot or not. That’s not him at his best. Him at his best are these plays that are unscripted, getting downhill.”
Similarly, Spoelstra said the aggression has to return on the defensive end.
“Defensively,” Spoelstra said, “when he’s at his best, he’s just around the ball a lot, whether that means the deflections, steals, the hustle play – like coming up with momentum-shifting plays. That’s what defined him when he was in college. So really leaning into that.”
Spoelstra said he has no doubt the work will remain ongoing, Jaquez, 24, having already spent time working this offseason with assistant coach Dan Bisaccio and shooting coach Rob Fodor.
“He’s gotten a good deal of time with us, with Dan and Rob and working on his shooting and working on player development and working on his body,” Spoelstra said. “And then he’s going to spend some time in L.A. He’s got a phenomenal work ethic. He works out three times a day.
“He’ll play some pickup in L.A., play some five-on-five with those things in mind at UCLA, all that stuff. And then come back out at some point in August, clear mind, ready.”