Jamal Cain, Nikola Jovic flash youth, intriguing potential in Heat’s preseason win vs. Nets
The Miami Heat has become known for developing young under-the-radar prospects into quality NBA rotation players. Those success stories usually begin emerging during the preseason.
The Heat is only two games into its preseason schedule this year, but two of its rookies began separating themselves from the others in Thursday’s 109-80 win over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center: First-round pick Nikola Jovic and undrafted prospect Jamal Cain.
“It’s year in and year out, we do this all the time. We always find diamonds in the rough,” center Bam Adebayo said before the Heat traveled to Memphis to complete its road back-to-back preseason set on Friday night against the Grizzlies. “They just need to get on TV and show who they are. So it just speaks volumes to the guys upstairs doing the recruiting and seeing who they like.”
Jovic, who was drafted by the Heat with the 27th overall pick in this year’s draft, finished with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting on threes, three rebounds, five assists and two steals in 16 minutes.
Cain, who went undrafted this year out of Oakland University, stood out Thursday with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, 11 rebounds and five steals in 27 minutes.
Albeit a preseason game, the two forwards looked like they belonged on the NBA level. But those around them were quickly reminded how young Jovic and Cain are shortly after the Heat’s win in Brooklyn.
“[Jovic] is so young. To put it in perspective, he’s still waiting to do his final exam to graduate from high school and doing that over Zoom,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra revealed following Thursday’s win. “We’ve had a lot of different developmental projects over the years. He’s a little bit of a unique one. We haven’t had a European so young. But his skill set is unique because of his size.”
Yes, the 6-10 Jovic is an NBA player who has not graduated high school yet. He’s one exam away from getting it done.
“It’s not that hard,” said Jovic, who turned 19 in June. “I need to take it, and I don’t have time to take it right now.”
Jovic was scheduled to graduate high school earlier this year, but predraft workouts took up too much of his time to make that a reality. The time difference back home in Serbia while Jovic was preparing for the draft in the United States made the logistics even tougher.
“My mom, she didn’t look at it like that,” Jovic said. “She wanted me to finish school. But I was like, ‘Mom!’”
The plan is for Jovic to take the exam “probably soon.”
“As soon as I have a little me time, I’ll do it,” Jovic said. “As soon as I get in contact with my teachers and stuff, because like I said, the time difference is really [big].”
As for Cain, he’s older than Jovic at 23 years old. But his youth was also evident when he walked away from Thursday’s performance in awe that he had just played against his favorite NBA player Kevin Durant.
“I’ve been watching him my whole life, man,” Cain said. “He’s been my favorite player since I’ve been around the game of basketball. So just to have the opportunity to play against him was unbelievable. I actually just got off the phone with my mom about it, too. She knows my love and the passion I have for KD.”
Cain let Durant know about it, too.
“As soon as I walked up to him, I told him,” Cain said. “He just patted me on my chest. He was like, ‘Man, keep working. You’re supposed to be here.’ And that’s basically how the conversation went.”
But Jovic and Cain left Thursday’s game in Brooklyn in two very different situations.
As a first-round pick, Jovic is already a member of the Heat’s regular-season roster. As an Exhibit 10 player, Cain is not.
If Cain remains on an Exhibit 10 deal, he’s expected to be waived by the Heat before the start of the regular season and then moved to the organization’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. The issue is that Cain is eligible to sign with another NBA team once he’s waived by the Heat later this preseason.
In order to make sure Cain remains within the organization’s developmental system, the Heat needs to sign him to a two-way contract or use its one open roster spot to sign him to a standard contract.
That’s not as easy as it sounds, though, because Darius Days and Marcus Garrett currently occupy Miami’s two two-way contract slots. And the Heat doesn’t have room under the luxury tax to sign Cain to a standard deal.
So in order to make sure Cain remains under the Heat umbrella, either Days or Garrett would need to be waived to create a two-way contract opportunity for him or Miami would need to be willing to enter the luxury tax to use the 15th and final roster spot on him.
The Heat has until Oct. 16 to finalize its regular-season roster and figure out what it will do with Cain. But Cain definitely made a strong statement with his performance on Thursday.
“He has the work ethic, he has the character,” Spoelstra said of Cain. “He was all about potential when we brought him into summer league. He’s raw. But you can see his athleticism. You can see his competitiveness, his activity, his multiple efforts and he’s really been honing that and trying to really fast track the schematics and how we play. So I’m sure his head is spinning. But he just makes plays. He makes you watch him. The rebounding, the offensive rebounds, the extra efforts, all that stuff. And his coachability makes you think that he’s just going to continue to improve rapidly.”
