By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Coming out of his sophomore NBA campaign, Nikola Jovic set the bar high, displaying his intentions to continue improving with the Miami Heat.
“I think I grew a lot, especially from last year being in the Finals and learning about how to get there and how hard it is,” he told HoopsHype, describing playing for the Heat over the last two seasons, “This year, I got a little bigger role, and I had the chance to start in the playoffs, which was a big deal, of course, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
Among the youngest players in the league based in North America and the youngest on the Heat roster, Jovic turned 21 on Sunday.
“I kind of learned how hard it is to just play every other day and be a starter. Just locking in every possible and just thinking about basketball all the time is something that helped me stay focused,” he said on his second NBA campaign.
Over 51 appearances for the team coached by Erik Spoelstra between the Regular Season and the Playoffs, the Serbian forward tallied 7.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per contest.
“There’s not one thing that I can focus on, I have to focus on so many of them, like from shooting to, dribbling, passing, basically everything,” added Jovic, “I feel like there’s so much room and space where I can improve, and I feel like I’ll show it at least a little more next season.”