Everything you need to know about Heat summer league: Roster, schedule, players on spot (Jovic, Jaquez, Robinson)
MIAMI — While the phones remain manned around the clock by the Miami Heat amid NBA free agency, on the other side of the country it is about sweating the small stuff.
Because for all the Heat do or do not come away with on the NBA’s high-end personnel market, the need for complementary pieces may never be higher amid the team’s tight position against the luxury tax.
To that end, assistant coach Caron Butler, who is guiding the Heat’s summer roster, appreciates the task at hand starting Monday at the California Classic in Sacramento and then continuing afterward at the larger NBA Las Vegas Summer League.
“This,” Butler said, “is about the growth of our players.”
And, with that, Butler rattled off the names of 2023 first-round pick Jaime Jaquez Jr., 2022 first-round pick Nikola Jovic, center Orlando Robinson and two-way contract contenders Jamaree Bouyea and Jamal Cain.
“It’s about looking at those guys, seeing them get better, from a student-of-the-game standpoint, or a playing-the-game standpoint, to make reads in the pocket, defensively, embodying the culture,” Butler said, with the Heat completing a two-day summer camp Sunday in Sacramento. “If you see all of them get better throughout the course of the summer leagues, then it’s a win for me.
“The wins and losses, obviously as a competitor, you care about that stuff. But I’ll watch the little things like that. That’s important to me.”
With the Heat in need of productive lower-cost labor, the opportunity is there for this summer’s undrafted newcomers to make the type of impressions that Robinson, Bouyea and Cain made in last year’s summer league.
The added incentive is that Exhibit 10 offseason players starting this year can receive a $75,000 bonus, up from the maximum $50,000 bonus from previous years.
So it could wind up as much about stocking the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, as the Heat’s opening-night roster. In order for Exhibit 10 prospects to claim their bonuses, they must move on to the G League after training camp if released.
Robinson, Bouyea, Cain and Jovic all spent time this past season with the Skyforce.
While Butler said the summer-league priority is development, Jaquez said that as long as score is being kept, winning also is the goal.
“I mean, come in and win as many games as possible,” he said. “I know that they were telling me they didn’t perform like they wanted to last year (3-5 in summer league). So coming into this, I have a goal of trying to win as many games as possible, do well in this California Classic, and then go to Vegas and hopefully win the summer-league championship.
“That’s the goal that we have here.”
Heat Summer League Roster
No. 73 Chase Audige, G, 6-4, Northwestern
No. 71 Jamaree Bouyea, G, 6-2, San Francisco
No. 8 Jamal Cain, F, 6-7, Oakland
No. 74 Caleb Daniels, G, 6-4, Villanova
No. 84 Ja’von Franklin, F, 6-7, Georgia Tech
No. 83, Taylor Funk, F, 6-9, Utah State
No. 95 Patrick Gardner, C, 6-11, Marist
No. 11 Jaime Jaquez Jr., F, 6-7, UCLA
No. 5 Nikola Jović, F, 6-11, Serbia
No. 75 Trenton Massner, G, 6-2, Western Illinois
No. 81 Drew Peterson, F, 6-9, USC
No. 72 Justin Powell, G, 6-6, Washington State
No. 25 Orlando Robinson, C, 6-11, Fresno State
No. 76 Alondes Williams, G, 6-4, Wake Forest
Schedule
(All times Eastern)
California Classic in Sacramento
Monday, Los Angeles Lakers, 6 p.m. (ESPN2)
Wednesday, Sacramento Kings, 10 p.m. (ESPN)
NBA 2K24 Las Vegas
Saturday, Boston Celtics, 3 p.m., (NBA TV)
July 10, Phoenix Suns, 6:30 p.m. (NBA TV)
July 13, Milwaukee Bucks, 5:30 p.m. (NBA TV)
July 14, Denver Nuggets, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
(Plus at least one more game in Las Vegas, TBA)
2022 summer-league results
(Stats of top Heat player)
July 2, Lakers 100, Heat 66 (Haywood Highsmith, 11 points, 3 3-pointers, 8 rebounds)
July 3, Kings, 81, Heat 64 (Highsmith 9 points, 8 rebounds)
July 5, Heat 94, Warriors 70 (Nikola Jovic 25 points, 5 3-pointers, 9 rebounds)
July 9, Heat 88, Celtics 78 (Mychal Mulder 23 points, 5 3-pointers)
July 12, Hawks 95, Heat 78 (Javonte Smart 19 points)
July 13, 76ers 75, Heat 71 (Highsmith 17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks)
July 15, Raptors 88, Heat 78 (Orlando Robinson 13 points, 11 rebounds)
July 16, Heat 88, Clippers 83 (Dru Smith 22 points)