The Miami Heat will highlight their new-look roster on Saturday night in their first preseason game. Which storylines stick out most heading into the matchup against the Toronto Raptors?
Well, the Miami Heat’s successful offseason is officially wrapped up as the team began training camp earlier this week and have their first preseason matchup on Saturday.
Miami is traveling up north to take on the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena at 7pm EST. It will be exciting to see the brand new face, Giannis Antetokounmpo, but let’s take a look at three under-the-radar storylines to track in Miami’s first preseason game:
1. The Heat’s Backup Center Situation
Behind Bam Adebayo, Miami now has two backup center options. They brought in Bobby Portis as part of the Antetokounmpo trade and while he’s mostly viewed as a power forward, he has plenty of experience at center as well. The Heat also brought in Nick Richards on a non-guaranteed contract in August and he also has built a reputation as a solid rebounder off the bench throughout his career. Either way, it will be interesting to gauge how Erik Spoelstra splits up the backup center minutes.
2. Nikola Jovic’s Improvement
The Heat gave big money to Jovic prior to last season and he was quite the disappointment. He suffered a couple of injuries throughout the campaign but still never showed any real signs of taking a leap as a player after earning the rookie contract extension. Obviously, one preseason game won’t be very telling but it would be nice to see some improvement to Jovic’s game because he’s entering a make-or-break season with a bunch of other veterans fighting for minutes alongside him.
3. Perimeter Shooting
The Heat brought in plenty of reinforcements this offseason to help space around Antetokounmpo. The biggest addition on that front was Klay Thompson, who was picked up by Miami after being waived by the Dallas Mavericks. The team also signed Tim Hardaway Jr. to a one-year deal while also retaining Simone Fontecchio as well. The Heat were not a bad three-point shooting team last season, ranking 11th in the league in with a 36.1 percent. However, some of the team’s best shooters left this offseason such as Kasparas Jakucionis, Norman Powell and Tyler Herro. With those guys on the way out, Pat Riley needed to bring in veterans to replace the losses. Again, it will be hard to get a real grasp about what a team looks like after one preseason game but it will be interesting to watch the spacing on the floor with the new shooters coming in.
