1. With Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo all cemented into the starting lineup, on top of Kevin Love getting the first stretch next to Adebayo in this one after starting most of his games last season, the main position of intrigue in the opening group at the moment might be who starts at the second guard spot – or point guard spot if you want to be official about it. With Butler not playing tonight, we weren’t going to get anything close to an answer, but Erik Spoelstra started both Kyle Lowry and Josh Richardson next to one another tonight. Nothing to do there but wait and see.
As for the rest of the rotation, Nikola Jovic and first-round pick Jaime Jaquez Jr. got minutes – more on them in a minute – but not withing the first handful of shifts that typically establishes the rotation. That doesn’t mean they aren’t in the rotation, only that they weren’t the first options that Spoelstra wanted to look at. Also noticeable that Haywood Highsmith was among the first subs, and it was as a wing rather than coming in for Kevin Love at the four spot. Again, that doesn’t mean Highsmith won’t play minutes at the four, only that it wasn’t the very first option. Thomas Bryant was also the only backup center to play in the first half – Orlando Robinson is, at least in concept, making a push for some of those minutes – while Dru Smith was the other true ballhandler to appear in the first half as Spoelstra played 11. Spoelstra says he hopes to get a look at the full rotation in the coming games, so stay tuned.
2. Move of the night goes to Jaquez Jr. (11 points on eight shots), who curled off an elbow screen from Bam Adebayo, took Gordon Haywood to the edge of the restricted area and proceeded to triple-fake Haywood out of his boots for a layup. Apparently, Jaquez Jr. worked out with Hakeem Olajuwon this offseason (this did not actually happen). He also snaked through a pick-and-roll for a layup, again moderating his pace, that eventually was goaltended, and later drop-stepped his way into another footwork score in the post.
Jaquez Jr. has always been seen as something of a plug-and-play rookie, insofar as those exist, because he’s 22 years-old after playing four years at UCLA. Granted that Is sometimes better in theory than in practice, but there’s little doubt that Jaquez Jr. looks like he belongs in the pro game, both in the sense of size and athleticism and with the measured, alternating pace approach he has on the floor. There will be good days and bad days as there are for any rookie, especially on the defensive side, and we’ll have to see how the shooting plays out in the short term, the fact that he is already making plays that some veterans can’t even pull off is a good sign that he’ll earn a chance to be a contributor at some point this season, even if it isn’t in October.
As for the other young player everyone is excited about, it was a non-descript night for Jovic as he only took one shot in seven first-half minutes. He did have a nice help side block on Mark Williams under the rim – he knows his ticket to minutes is on proving his defense is viable – and used his best asset, his playmaking, to help Adebayo draw a foul on a post seal.
3. This was Tyler Herro’s (22 points on 22 shots) first official (preseason) game action since breaking his hand in Game 1 against Milwaukee last postseason, and he looked exactly like you would expect him to look. I know, News at 11, but such things are always notable after a significant injury. We know he’s going to run a ton of pick-and-rolls with Adebayo after that was his bread-and-butter, but in the third quarter tonight – before leaving the game for good, with Adebayo, Lowry and Love only playing the first half – he ran quite a bit of effective two-man action with Thomas Bryant (15 points), whose skillset might resemble that of Adebayo more than any HEAT center since Kelly Olynyk was on the roster. While the questions with Adebayo off the floor were centered on the defensive end last year, it’s a positive that they might be able to run some of the same offense no matter which lineups are out there.
As far as the fourth quarter goes, when both coaches went deeper into their benches, the most notable thing that happened in an energetic comeback was five Cole Swider (17 points, 5-of-9 from downtown) threes from just about everywhere around the arc – because that’s what Cole Swider does. Of all the young hopefuls trying to earn themselves a roster spot, his name has been the one that has come up most often.