{"id":373549,"date":"2026-08-17T10:28:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T10:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/373549\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T10:28:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T10:28:35","slug":"addressing-nikola-jovic-and-his-many-miami-heat-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/373549\/","title":{"rendered":"Addressing Nikola Jovic and his many Miami Heat questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Q: Gabe Vincent\u2019s quote about Erik Spoelstra \u201cnot turning a work horse into a race horse and a plumber into an electrician\u201d\u00a0 doesn\u2019t hold up with Nikola Jovic. Spoelstra is trying to turn a small forward into a power forward. How has that worked out?\u00a0 \u2013 David, Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n<p>A: Or is Erik Spoelstra attempting to make<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/2026\/05\/01\/pat-riley-the-latest-heat-boss-to-chime-in-on-unmet-expectations-with-nikola-jovic\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Nikola Jovic into his best self<\/a>? Yes, positionally, Nikola Jovic prefers to be cast as a perimeter player. But his limitations as a wing, compared to his advantages in the power rotation indicate otherwise. The Heat are attempting to maximize. And, if in fact, Gabe Vincent\u2019s words resonate the way he intended, then Spoelstra is trying to turn a work horse into a work horse, and a plumber into a plumber.<\/p>\n<p>Q: Why not just start Nikola Jovic? Get it out of the way early to see if he can hang. Start him at the three and Andrew Wiggins at the two. Simple. \u2013 Mike, St. Cloud.<\/p>\n<p>A: Who\u2019s to say, indeed. Assume nothing when it comes to Heat lineups. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/2026\/04\/19\/as-nikola-jovic-laments-heat-struggles-erik-spoelstra-says-enough-with-the-victim-mindset\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">If Nikola Jovic turns things around<\/a>, Erik Spoelstra assuredly will maximize such a turnaround, just as he did last season with Jaime Jaquez Jr. Rule nothing out with either Jovic or Spoelstra.<\/p>\n<p>Q: Why are the Heat protecting Nikola Jovic and not putting him into play for a Klay Thompson trade? The four players the Heat traded for Giannis Antetokounmpo have all performed better than Jovic, and Jovic has a bloated contract. I thought we were in win now mode?\u00a0 \u2013 Chadwick, Lake Worth.<\/p>\n<p>A: I saved this for last in this three-question mailbag for this reason: I would not trade Nikola Jovic for Klay Thompson. Not only does Nikola Jovic not have a bloated contract, but having a rotation player at mid-level money could prove money well spent these next four seasons. There is a skill set there that should not summarily be discarded because spacing is needed. Now, if you can get Klay and keep Nikola, then the best of all those worlds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q: Gabe Vincent\u2019s quote about Erik Spoelstra \u201cnot turning a work horse into a race horse and a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17325,114,123,125,2490,16151,124,2295,110],"class_list":["post-373549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-ask-ira","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-heat","tag-miami-heat-blog","tag-miami-news","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}