Q: Ira, this is very curious how the Heat started starting Nikola Jovic closer to the trading deadline. I smell a showcase. Even look at how Erik Spoelstra is playing him, never putting him in at the end of games to be exposed defensively. Something tells me Pat Riley is at work behind this. – Bob.
A: Well if it looks like a showcase and smells like a showcase . . . Nah, I just don’t see it with this team, and can’t fathom the front office dictating a lineup move when Erik Spoelstra is so steeled on winning. That said, Spoelstra does have a degree of personnel control. This is a business about asset creation, which an argument could be made the Heat are doing at the moment. But I tend to view this more as experimentation, to see if something bigger alongside Bam Adebayo could offset what otherwise have been smallish lineups. All of that said, it is inarguable that Nikola Jovic at the moment likely has more value than at any other stage of his brief NBA career. But, again, that doesn’t mean he is going anywhere.
Q: All of the major players in the Heat’s division have improved significantly from last season’s rosters. Yes, Jaime Jaquez Jr. was a great rookie find, but not enough. If the prize is to win it all, this roster is not there yet. Don’t we need to make a move at the trade deadline? It sounds like you’re good standing pat? – Bob, Davie.
A: First, it doesn’t matter where I stand. But also don’t discount internal growth from players such as Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo. That said, there is a fine line when it comes to tinkering with what mostly got the Heat to last season’s NBA Finals. Yes, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent are gone, but Jaime Jaquez Jr. arguably has produced more that either to this stage. But more than anything, I believe it is about holding on to limited assets for something big, as Pat Riley did with Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James, Jimmy Butler. So the thought well could be why add a mid-tier upgrade now, when there could be something along the lines of a Luka Doncic later?
Q: For every good game Tyler Herro has, he seems to have just as many ugly games. If we are going to live with these 20-shot, low-percentage games maybe the Heat should be looking for a great offensive rebounder to compliment the team. Valid? – Jim, Columbia, S.C.
A: I’m not sure the Heat are at a point with Tyler Herro where the 76ers were during the Allen Iverson era, when it was Iverson shoots and Tyrone Hill, George Lynch, Dikembe Muotombo and Theo Ratliff chase the rebounds. You do that when such a player is your ultimate leading man and largely lone source of offense. As long as Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are around, I doubt the Heat would solely cater to Tyler.