Podcast: Bam Adebayo’s scoring, Tyler Herro’s 3s and more takeaways from Heat preseason
It was only the preseason, but could it have gone any better for the Miami Heat?
Bam Adebayo seems poised for the best season of his career, Tyler Herro looks like he’s going to be worth every bit of his new contract, Caleb Martin played like a starting power forward and even Nikola Jovic looks ready to help out in South Florida this season.
Now, the regular season is here and the Heat Check podcast is back to discuss what is for real, what might be a mirage and what we learned from Miami’s five preseason tune-ups. David Wilson and Anthony Chiang, the Heat beat writer for the Miami Herald, break down the big lessons ahead of Miami’s opener against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday at FTX Arena.
Most of those lessons came from the Heat’s preseason finale, a 120-103 win against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday in Miami. Coach Erik Spoelstra treated it as a dress rehearsal before the start of the regular season and the Heat ran through it near flawlessly.
The projected starting lineup of point guard Kyle Lowry, All-Star forward Jimmy Butler, Herro, Martin and Adebayo outscored the Pelicans, 60-48. Adebayo led the way with 25 points in 25 minutes and finished the preseason with 64 points in 74 minutes. Herro wasn’t far behind, scoring 23 points, and finishing the preseason at 52 percent from the field and 58 percent from three-point range. Jovic even got a brief chance to play with Lowry, Herro, Butler and Adebayo — an indication as to how much he has impressed Spoelstra since Miami took him with the No. 27 pick in the 2022 NBA draft.
All of these are good signs. The question is how much are they a sign of what’s to come in the 2022-23 NBA season.
As always, thanks for listening and please continue to rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published October 13, 2022 at 9:22 AM.
