In the opener, there were 24 minutes in the home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. In the second game, there were 13 in the home loss to the Detroit Pistons. The following night, only six minutes in the road loss to the Charlotte Hornets. And then none Monday against the Mavericks, when his minutes instead went to point guard Dru Smith. “I’m still trying to find that spot for Niko,” coach Erik Spoelstra said Wednesday morning.” So this is different than last year, because he’s been giving us good minutes. But we felt that we needed a little bit more perimeter based with Dru, to be able to set everybody else in their normal positions. “But I did extend our frontcourt big minutes the other night, so Niko is still fully in the mix. I just have to figure it out.”
