Miami Heat 2023/2024 Regular Season - Thread 2.0

[marson]

Duncan's improvement on defense and off the dribble is awe-inspiring. Reward that man for his grind.

[gom]

As long as Duncan gets steady minutes from the bench, we will continue to win. I'd start Lowry/Herro/Butler/Highsmith/Bam and bring in Duncan, Jaquez, Martin, Richardson, & Love to feast on the bench of the other team with Butler & Bam sharing time with them. Herro/Bam should carry the team so we don't wear Butler out.

It's a long season. Pace yourselves.

[MorbidHEAT]

Butler after Niko's last game: "Stop playing him at the 5, HE IS NOT A 5". Shot's fired at Spo

And I believe he followed that with a "Free my boy Niko"

I haven’t looked this up…is any of that true?

[DBurks2818]

The “shots” were more likely directed at Niko’s G-league coach. Spo doesn’t play him at the 5.

[dshearn]

The “shots” were more likely directed at Niko’s G-league coach. Spo doesn’t play him at the 5.

I would assume there is a complex development plan, and he is being positioned exactly how the Heat want him to be.

Could be cross training, could be for evaluation, could be a long term plan...no telling....but I would suspect it is by design....

The way they got Duncan and JJJ dishing the ball...heck even Herro had some slick assists when he was playing... We are in for beautiful basketball when Jovic gets on the court. Jovic is going to be so much fun to watch. in today's game..Jovic was working with Swider how I would suspect he would work with Duncan....gonna be fun to watch

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Are you all sure Caruso can play point?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

He has basically his entire career

[RexBoyWonder]

let him run point for real, he can pass and shoot and run the fastbreak

Watch on YouTube

[RexBoyWonder]

Duncan 2.0?

Watch on YouTube

[RexBoyWonder]

The “shots” were more likely directed at Niko’s G-league coach. Spo doesn’t play him at the 5.

right. Spo doesn't play him at all.

[BBallFreak]

The “shots” were more likely directed at Niko’s G-league coach. Spo doesn’t play him at the 5.

right. Spo doesn't play him at all.

Should he be? I mean, aren't we supposed to be putting out our best players right now? This isn't a youth thing because Jaime Jaquez is playing major minutes. He just happens to be ready.

[RexBoyWonder]

The “shots” were more likely directed at Niko’s G-league coach. Spo doesn’t play him at the 5.

right. Spo doesn't play him at all.

Should he be? I mean, aren't we supposed to be putting out our best players right now? This isn't a youth thing because Jaime Jaquez is playing major minutes. He just happens to be ready.

Yes I think he should, he showed enough flashes to make me believe he can outproduce K.Love if given a consistent chance to get some rhythm.

He was a winning player for a team that got to the world championships finals, it's not like he's some clueless raw prospect.

[IceColdCubano]

The “shots” were more likely directed at Niko’s G-league coach. Spo doesn’t play him at the 5.

right. Spo doesn't play him at all.

Should he be? I mean, aren't we supposed to be putting out our best players right now? This isn't a youth thing because Jaime Jaquez is playing major minutes. He just happens to be ready.

The way the team is playing, Spo is having a hard time finding minutes in his 9 man rotation for everyone, the Herro injury actually helped, bring back Caleb. Had Herro still been playing without injury, that means your having Duncan, JJJ, Josh, Love taking up the majority of those minutes, meaning you would have to sacrifice Josh/JJJ less minutes ro find some for Caleb, now you bring in Jovic into the conversation and unless he can outdo the vet savvy production of Love you couldn't find minutes in these rotation. Miami is making due without a backup pg. I think knowing that Caleb may price himself out of range and we will end up losing him for nothing means this trade deadline is perfect time to find him a home, swap him for a backup PG, even if you need to throw in there a pick to sweeten the deal. There are plenty of young, athletic, hungry third string 22-24 year old PG on teams that are out of rotation or barely getting minutes with high upside, first round picks from the last 4-5 year draft.

[wadenation305]

right. Spo doesn't play him at all.

Should he be? I mean, aren't we supposed to be putting out our best players right now? This isn't a youth thing because Jaime Jaquez is playing major minutes. He just happens to be ready.

The way the team is playing, Spo is having a hard time finding minutes in his 9 man rotation for everyone, the Herro injury actually helped, bring back Caleb. Had Herro still been playing without injury, that means your having Duncan, JJJ, Josh, Love taking up the majority of those minutes, meaning you would have to sacrifice Josh/JJJ less minutes ro find some for Caleb, now you bring in Jovic into the conversation and unless he can outdo the vet savvy production of Love you couldn't find minutes in these rotation. Miami is making due without a backup pg. I think knowing that Caleb may price himself out of range and we will end up losing him for nothing means this trade deadline is perfect time to find him a home, swap him for a backup PG, even if you need to throw in there a pick to sweeten the deal. There are plenty of young, athletic, hungry third string 22-24 year old PG on teams that are out of rotation or barely getting minutes with high upside, first round picks from the last 4-5 year draft.

I would totally sacrifice the Josh Minutes for Caleb at this point

[wadenation305]

Butler after Niko's last game: "Stop playing him at the 5, HE IS NOT A 5". Shot's fired at Spo

And I believe he followed that with a "Free my boy Niko"

I haven’t looked this up…is any of that true?

He did say both those things. And no I don't think it's really "Shots fired at Spo", but I choose to take it that way. Because we all know that even though Spo so far used him as a 4, Spo's wet dream was really sticking him at the 5, but because Niko is just too big to be undersized at any position. It doesn't make Spo hard enough.

AirP originally posted the clip on page 19 if you wanna take a look

[IceColdCubano]

Should he be? I mean, aren't we supposed to be putting out our best players right now? This isn't a youth thing because Jaime Jaquez is playing major minutes. He just happens to be ready.

The way the team is playing, Spo is having a hard time finding minutes in his 9 man rotation for everyone, the Herro injury actually helped, bring back Caleb. Had Herro still been playing without injury, that means your having Duncan, JJJ, Josh, Love taking up the majority of those minutes, meaning you would have to sacrifice Josh/JJJ less minutes ro find some for Caleb, now you bring in Jovic into the conversation and unless he can outdo the vet savvy production of Love you couldn't find minutes in these rotation. Miami is making due without a backup pg. I think knowing that Caleb may price himself out of range and we will end up losing him for nothing means this trade deadline is perfect time to find him a home, swap him for a backup PG, even if you need to throw in there a pick to sweeten the deal. There are plenty of young, athletic, hungry third string 22-24 year old PG on teams that are out of rotation or barely getting minutes with high upside, first round picks from the last 4-5 year draft.

I would totally sacrifice the Josh Minutes for Caleb at this point

However they both play two completely different positions, Josh is essentially our back up PG/Combo Guard. Caleb cannot innitiate offense or control from the point of attack coming on half court sets unless he is cutting to the basket, or ISO'ing against single coverage, does rather poorly using screens, and doen'st have the best handle to take on that task. Therein lies the problem with this, you could reduce minutes that Josh overlaps at the 2guard, and give those to Caleb, but not all of them, they need to come from Duncan, JJJ or Highsmith, neither three anybody wants a reduced role.

[IceColdCubano]

Butler after Niko's last game: "Stop playing him at the 5, HE IS NOT A 5". Shot's fired at Spo

And I believe he followed that with a "Free my boy Niko"

I haven’t looked this up…is any of that true?

He did say both those things. And no I don't think it's really "Shots fired at Spo", but I choose to take it that way. Because we all know that even though Spo so far used him as a 4, Spo's wet dream was really sticking him at the 5, but because Niko is just too big to be undersized at any position. It doesn't make Spo hard enough.

AirP originally posted the clip on page 19 if you wanna take a look

I truly believe next year is the year Niko gets minutes in the rotation, the program is working, sometime next season he will be ready, his body a bit more filled out, more confidence, and another year in our training program. Also it coincides with Love moving over to the Haslem role, of bench vet presence.

[BBallFreak]

right. Spo doesn't play him at all.

Should he be? I mean, aren't we supposed to be putting out our best players right now? This isn't a youth thing because Jaime Jaquez is playing major minutes. He just happens to be ready.

Yes I think he should, he showed enough flashes to make me believe he can outproduce K.Love if given a consistent chance to get some rhythm.

He was a winning player for a team that got to the world championships finals, it's not like he's some clueless raw prospect.

I completely disagree. I would love to see him beat out Love but the reality is he hasn't. Love is playing fantastic basketball. I'm good with the kid learning behind a better player. He'll get his chance, hopefully this season, but he needs development. Given our team's history with developing players, I would think deferring to their judgement on this would be a no-brainer.

[greg4012]

The “shots” were more likely directed at Niko’s G-league coach. Spo doesn’t play him at the 5.

right. Spo doesn't play him at all.

Should he be? I mean, aren't we supposed to be putting out our best players right now? This isn't a youth thing because Jaime Jaquez is playing major minutes. He just happens to be ready.

And he’s 2 years older

[DBurks2818]

I knew that Spo comment would get quoted. Thanks a lot guys >_>

[greg4012]

Should he be? I mean, aren't we supposed to be putting out our best players right now? This isn't a youth thing because Jaime Jaquez is playing major minutes. He just happens to be ready.

Yes I think he should, he showed enough flashes to make me believe he can outproduce K.Love if given a consistent chance to get some rhythm.

He was a winning player for a team that got to the world championships finals, it's not like he's some clueless raw prospect.

I completely disagree. I would love to see him beat out Love but the reality is he hasn't. Love is playing fantastic basketball. I'm good with the kid learning behind a better player. He'll get his chance, hopefully this season, but he needs development. Given our team's history with developing players, I would think deferring to their judgement on this would be a no-brainer.

I’m with you. Love and Lowry both play under appreciated grown man vet ball. Love is moving bodies and doing dirty work on both sides of the floor while playing smart team ball and hitting some clutch 3s.

Not easy for a skinny 20 year old to replicate that even if he’s more youthful and athletic. Bulk Jovic hasn’t fully arrived yet