Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra speaks on Nikola Jovic’s maturity in the midst of the young star playing in EuroBasket.

With the Miami Heat hoping to reach a championship standard for next season, head coach Erik Spoelstra has hit the EuroBasket trail to scout the players on his team, like with Sweden’s Pelle Larsson and especially Serbia’s Nikola Jovic. As Jovic would compliment the Heat head coach for coming out to his game, Spoelstra would give insight into the continued development.

Jovic is one of three players on Miami to play in EuroBasket for their home countries, as, besides him and Larsson, Simone Fontecchio represents Italy. Looking specifically at Jovic, the first-round pick from 2022 has been in constant development with the team, as Spoelstra especially likes how each time spent with the Serbian national team is a time to “mature.”

“I’m really excited for Niko,” Spoelstra said, via The Miami Herald. “I love it when he spends time with the national team. Every time he comes back to us, he comes back more mature. I think being around a group that knows how to win, that really cares about winning, the team is so connected, also. So I think it makes a big impression on him. We’re looking forward to some great things ahead for him with us.”

Heat’s Nikola Jovic on Erik Spoelstra attending EuroBasket game 

Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
While Jovic has always been considered a Heat breakout candidate, he is still looking to be a consistent producer, as he has shown in spurts how crucial he could be to Spoelstra’s rotation. In Serbia’s romp over Luka Doncic and Slovenia on Thursday, Jovic would speak on how “motivated” he was to see Spoelstra in attendance as he scored 18 points and recorded seven rebounds.

“I was definitely motivated [by Spoelstra watching], he’s one of the best coaches in the world, if not the best,” Jovic said. “He went the extra mile to come see me. I definitely wanted to show that I’ve improved and that I’ll be even better next season.”

This isn’t Jovic’s first time representing Serbia on the national stage, as he was with the group during the last FIBA World Cup and the Olympics last summer in Paris, France. Not helping with his inconsistency, Jovic has been unable to play a full season in the three years with Miami, as last season, he played 46 games with a foot injury, sidelining him for a significant amount of time when he was starting to gain a rhythm.

Last season, Jovic averaged 10.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 45.6 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from beyond the arc. He still provides Miami positional flexibility as a forward who could play the four and stretch the court out.

Heat vying to reach “championship standard again”

Coming off the frustration of last season, headlined by the on and off the court drama with Jimmy Butler, there would be changes, like the Heat trading for Norman Powell from the Los Angeles Clippers. After finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference, Miami would make it through the play-in tournament but be swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

This upcoming season, Spoelstra envisions the team being much better.

“Well, hopefully we’re going to be a lot better than last year,” Spoelstra said when speaking to a Swedish television network at halftime at one of Larsson’s games for the country. “We had to really navigate quite a few things during the season. But we did make the playoffs. The playoffs did not go how we wanted it to go, but the league is tough. It’s very competitive.

“We pride ourselves on finding a way to compete for a championship every single year, so that’s what our standard is, that’s what we’re aiming to do this year, and I think we have a good group,” Spoelstra continued. “We have an exciting group of young players like Pelle. And we have experience, and have that competitive drive that we look for. So it’s a matter of putting it together and getting out there and competing for it.”

At any rate, the Heat look to improve after finishing 37-45, which put them 10th in the East as said before, with training camp for the team starting on Sept. 30 at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. The preseason opener is on Oct. 4 in Puerto Rico against the Orlando Magic, as Miami faces them again for the start of the regular season on Oct. 22.