The Miami Heat wrapped up their Summer League slate with a 26 point 104-78 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. While the final results were up-and-down overall, multiple players had the opportunity to impress the coaching staff and front office.
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Miami Heat Summer League Recap
The Miami Heat got a solid Summer League slate in this year, playing in the California Classic in Sacramento before joining the whole league in Las Vegas for the NBA 2K24 Summer League. Most of the focus regarding the team right now is whether or not they will end up working out a trade for Damian Lillard (Which is ironic considering their last Summer League game was against the Trail Blazers.), but there were still storylines in the Summer League.
Miami selected Jaime Jaquez Jr. with the 18th overall pick in last month’s NBA Draft. He suffered an injury in the team’s second game of the summer which prevented him from playing again after that, but he looked really promising in the little bit of action that he did get. Jaquez had a great debut against the Lakers, scoring 22 points on 8-15 shooting, really exciting Heat fans.
Nikola Jovic was the 27th overall pick in last year’s draft by the Heat. He was also playing really well this summer before getting injured. He scored in double figures in each of his first three appearances this summer. Unfortunately the injury that he suffered in game 3 clearly hampered him in game 4. But overall he showed a lot of promise. He scored 21 points and grabbed 8 rebounds against the Lakers, scored another 22 against the Kings, and 14 more against the Celtics. His performance in this year’s Summer League could lead to him earning more playing time this season.
Orlando Robinson was the star of the show though for the Heat. Right before the Summer League started the Heat signed him to a standard contract after spending last year on a two-way deal. All he did was go out and show them why they were so right to do that. He got close to notching a double-double in all but one game. He did get one against the Celtics, scoring an impressive 36 points to go along with 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. Robinson dropped 25 and 8 against the Bucks and had a dominating 27/9/6/3/1 statline on 10-15 shooting with a +27 +/- in the team’s Summer League finale against the Trail Blazers. He had superb statlines in almost every game that he appeared in this summer. This show that Robinson put on should get him a lot more minutes this year and could even get him some starts during this upcoming regular season.
The Heat already have two of their two-way contract spots filled by guards Jamaree Bouyea and Dru Smith. Both of those players put together solid performances these last couple of weeks. Smith’s best performance this summer came against the Celtics, a game in which he had 16 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 stills. Bouyea dropped 20 on the Nuggets, and had some other solid games as well. Both guards could earn some time for the Heat if they perform well playing in the G-League for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, especially depending on the depth that the Heat’s backcourt ends up having and whether or not a trade is made for Damian Lillard.
New in the 2023-2024 NBA season is a third two-way contract spot for each team. With that spot still open for the Heat, the question is who will they sign to fill that spot? My guess would be Jamal Cain. Cain was on a two-way deal with the team last year, and played pretty well this summer, scoring 15 against the Trail Blazers, 17 against the Kings, 18 against the Suns, and 24 against the Bucks. Because he played so well though Cain could be signed to a standard contract. If that were to happen then there would be multiple options for the Heat’s third two-way spot. Chase Audige had a solid summer and played in every one of the Heat’s games. Alondes Williams is also an option. If they don’t want all three of their two-way players to be guards though, then Patrick Garnder, Taylor Funk, Drew Peterson, and Brandon McCoy could all be options. Miami could also look elsewhere to fill that spot.
