Miami Heat: Herro & Adebayo dominate the Grizzlies

Welcome to 5 On The Floor, a daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA, featuring Ethan Skolnick, Greg Sylvander, and Alex Toledo, plus others from the Five Reasons Sports Network. Welcome back to the latest episode of 5 On The Floor. This is the post-game edition. I am your host, Greg Sylvander. Today's floor plan with me, we have Matt Hannafin. You can follow him on Twitter. I'll let him give his handle later on. You also have Eternal, who you can always find on Playback, and you can find him on Twitter as well. He'll shout out his handle later on as well. We are going to dissect the Miami Heat's 132-124 preseason victory over the Memphis Grizzlies at home. There were definitely some performances that we think are worthy to talk about. We will give you our major takeaways, and then we're going to move on to the next game because we realize that the preseason, we shouldn't take a ton from it, right? But we are going to dissect what we saw tonight. Before we dive into any of that, though, I want to tell you about a great sponsor here at the Five Reasons Sports Network, and that's A.Aggressive Insurance. They are the official post-game sponsor. Every post-game podcast of Five on the Floor for this entire season is sponsored by A.Aggressive Insurance, the insurance broker agency that's been servicing South Florida for over 15 years offering auto, homeowners, condo, life insurance, retirement programs, free notary service to all clients representing the leading insurance carriers in South Florida. So if you have a bad driving record, no problem. No driver is refused. Free phone quotes. So you got to hit them up, but you could try at the website first. This is the quickest way. Insurance by Lynette.com. That's with two N's and two T's in Lynette. Again, insurance by Lynette.com. A.Aggressive Insurance. And you know what? We're going to be starting segments here on the show soon when we get our imaging done, and one of those is going to be our A.Aggressive Plays of the Night, and this is going to lean into where I want to start today's show, and that is there was a sequence early in the game where Haywood Highsmith found Bam Adebayo for two quick buckets, and Bam also had another bucket mixed in there, and he scored three straight, and he had it going, and he took 20 field goal attempts. And for me, Bam Adebayo is the A.Aggressive, aggressive, aggressive, aggressive player of tonight. I loved what I saw from him. 12 of 20 from the field, six rebounds, three assists, 26 points in only 25 minutes. He looks in mid-season form. He looks aggressive in trying to get his shot. I think there were even moments where Heat fans probably wished that he would go and try to dunk it even more often, but the shots getting up was really good. Matt, I'll start with you. It's no longer your maiden voyage, so this is probably the last time that you're going to get the assist right up front. We'll let Eternal go bat first next time, but Bam Adebayo, man, he looked great tonight. Four blocks. What else can we say? What did you see? I mean, like, I think, I mean, obviously, like, with the aggressiveness, as you mentioned, like, he wasn't really thinking that much, and then defensively, it looked like he was taking the Jaron Jackson Jr. matchup very personal to some extent, but Bam just doing it on both ends. I mean, you mentioned the four blocks, and it wasn't even just that, like, he's staying in front of every, like, obviously, it's doing, it's Bam doing what Bam does. He's staying in front of everyone. He's contesting the right shots. His motor's just insane when it comes to, like, him moving around the floor. His box outs were good. He had that one where he wasn't even, like, around the rim, but he was on the receiving end of a K-love hit-ahead pass, which is something that we haven't seen very often, and so he was just everywhere on the floor in that aspect, but then, like, just offensively in the half court, him, I mean, yeah, you do want to see him get to the rim more often. You do want to see him try to create those advantages and try to get to the line, but his jump shot was flowing, and, like, when he's not thinking about it, when he's just going just on a one count, like, he's incredibly effective, so I think that's really just the takeaway that I saw from him tonight, but it was on both ends of the floor. It wasn't on just one, as you mentioned. No, and it's a great point. I think he is taking that Jaren Jackson Jr. matchup seriously and personally because there is now, you know, kind of this buzz that that's the better defender, and I think that he'll be out to prove that, and that'll be fun to watch going forward. I'm not going to make too much of it. There's no beef there. Come on, folks, but it's just more about competitive stuff there. Like what I saw from K-love, Eternal, I want to talk to you specifically, and I want to your comments on Bam as well, but I'm shifting gears a little bit so we get through everybody. We're doing a pretty abbreviated version of Five on the Floor tonight, folks, just because we're going to have two off days before the next game, so we're going to get a lot of time to dissect the rest of this, but Jamal Kane, Eternal, was like, he's 6 of 9, 7 rebounds, 14 points, another really good game from him, so interested. Obviously, your Bam thoughts are welcome, but also Jamal Kane, as we pivot to the next guy, he showed up. Yeah, man, the interesting thing about Jamal Kane is he's not a guy that you have to scheme for offensively, so it's not like you have to scheme up any kind of off the pick and pop, off the pick and roll or anything like that. He's just a hustle guy. Wherever I get in, I'm going to fit in, and you see it every time he's on the court. You saw it last preseason. You saw it during the games, during the season last year. We saw a little bit of it in the summer league, and you've seen it these past two games. His impact on the court is just so, so it's 94 feet, and it's crazy. I think Miami is so very fortunate to have three Jimmy disciples, as I was saying during playback with Matt and you. Jimmy and Bam took him under their wing last season, and you can just kind of tell why. He's a very special role player. Agree. I think he could be in line for that standard deal. Heywood Highsmith was another guy that I think he had his moments. I mentioned him at the top when he found Bam those couple of times. I love that he's looking for that. Kyle Lowry, shout out to you. I know I've been called the biggest hater alive, and sorry that it's portrayed that way. Nine assists, three turnovers. That is money in the bank for this team. I think that that's the perfect role for Kyle Lowry. So there were so many good things that came from this because the team was as efficient as they were, and obviously they shot the ball really well. The only thing that kind of jumped out, Matt, was the turnovers. Do you think that that is something we should be? I mean, Tyler had four. He's going to have turnovers when he's trying to do as much as he's doing out there. I'm looking here. Duncan had two, and then it's kind of spread out. Otherwise, what do you make of the turnovers early? Do you think that that's just them kind of figuring out and the fact that it's clunky because the lineups aren't really going to be the lineups that they'd play later on? What do you make of the turnovers in this particular game? I mean, I'm not looking too much into it. You mentioned some of the lineups. Some of them were weird. With so many guys who were inactive, there were, what, six, seven guys who weren't playing who most of them would be in the regular rotation on most nights. And so I'm not making too much of the turnovers. Again, Tyler with the four turnovers, he had so many on-ball reps to where the four turnovers, if you contextualize that, it's not a significant amount. Kyle Lowry had the three turnovers, but he was also, as you mentioned, the nine assists, he was also kind of being Miami's table setter, which is kind of his role that he has on this team. So I'm not making too much. I mean, Miami finished with 13 turnovers as a team. They also finished with 30 assists. So that's a two to one assisted turnover ratio, just a little bit over that. So I'm not making too much of it right now. I don't think that was Miami's biggest issue tonight. I think probably the defense was. But again, like just some of the lineups that was running out there, depending on who was creating and who who wasn't creating or whatever the case was. I mean, there were just lineups were like Tyler was the only creator. And then there was lineups late in the game were like Justin Champagne and Jamal Kane were their primary creators. So it's like, what can you actually make of those kind of combinations, I suppose, throwing out there? So I'm not I'm not making too much of a fuss over if I'm being completely honest. Agree. And honestly, I mean, as I look at it again, it was probably a ridiculous question, because 13 turnovers is actually not many when you look at it in the grand scheme of things. But that was just something that jumped out as I am perusing the box score, trying to not be a box score watchers. We recap this show. Thomas Bryan had a good game. You mentioned some of these other guys. And I want Eternals perspective here before we go to break. And then we're going to wrap up with kind of final thoughts and somebody we haven't talked about intentionally. What did you think of these end of the bench guys that are kind of playing for these last slots? You know the names. I'm not going to rattle them all off. But Eternal, what was your thoughts on guys eight through 12 tonight? Are we including Jamal Kane in it or no? No. OK. I think it's really, really interesting. I think Cole Squatter was always going to be a potential project. No one is like, oh, Cole Squatter scored 17 points in the fourth quarter. We're depending on him to give us really impactful minutes during the season. They were just like, OK, so you see that type of potential. Let's build that. I think Cole is one of those guys. It's just been hard, Greg, because you haven't really seen RJ Hampton at all. You know, so they cut Drew Peterson. And who was the other person that they cut? Alondis Williams. So I will say Champagney for the quick minutes in the fourth quarter look really, really good. Dark horse. Dark horse to get a spot. Right. And for those that don't know, Champagne was on Sioux Falls last season. So he's been in their developmental system. So I don't know. I don't know, Greg. Orlando Robinson, so you have been one. And again, check all of us out on playback. We promise we're not going to reference it too many times tonight. I listen to the comments, y'all. But you should check us out on playback on playback TV. Five hours. And no, but all jokes aside, although everyone looks good when you look at the, you know, simpleton stats like, you know, plus minus, et cetera, Orlando Robinson and Thomas Bryant. I think it's pretty clear. Thomas Bryant's the backup center. Yeah. Is anyone on this show? So not just eternal because I think I know where he's going. So I'll take a more measured opinion from Matt, too. Does anyone think Orlando Robinson's guaranteed contract, which I believe his deal becomes fully guaranteed if he's on the roster on opening night? Is that in danger? Question mark. Wait, I thought it was like there's like in like December becomes there's like increments to it. But I mean, I don't I don't think that's just to answer your question. I don't think that's in danger now. And I'll make sure that I'm not crazy with what I'm with, what I'm coming. I thought it was the fully guarantee on opening night, but I could be wrong. I think it's fully guaranteed. Like, I think it becomes like I don't remember the number, like 300 or like 500000 or something like that on opening night. But then it goes to like I think there's like a December date and like a January date. But just like nitpicky stuff aside, I don't think that's really right. Like just as a guy, like he's improved his touch. I think he at least has improved defensively in some respect. And when I I don't think it's like he's shown enough improvement just as like he he he might not be the most athletic guy on the floor, but like he's a guy that you can rely on. And I've talked about this before, but like he was a solid three point shooter when he was at Fresno State. It's his last year that he was around thirty five, thirty six percent on three attempts. That's just not something he showcased last year. But I think he's improved defensively. I think he showed that during the summer when they were blitzing him. I think he's improved offensively. I think he's kind of improved as a playmaker, surprisingly or not, like I think it's like a short rule playmaker. He's shown some flashes there. That's not something he's going to get a ton of reps in. But like I don't think he's in danger, especially with like the questions that we have about Thomas Bryant defensively. I don't think it's really I don't think it's I don't I don't I think he's going to make the roster. I don't know if that that's really not a concern in my mind. Eternal, you disagree. You think Orlando Robinson is in danger of that four hundred and twenty five K? I did go look it up. Thank you, Matt. You're keeping me honest here. He gets four hundred and twenty five K guaranteed if he's on the roster opening night. If I read that correctly, perspo track eternal, you think that they could potentially look in another direction or was that just an overreaction on playback by you? No, I mean, well, you know, I've been saying this since they gave him the standard. I was surprised. And Orlando, if you're listening to this, please know it's not the person. When I gave him the standard prior to summer league, I was surprised that they didn't give it to Jamal Kane. I mean, based off of what we've seen from Jamal last year and also, you know, what we're seeing right now, you know, he it just immediately jumps out to you as soon as he gets on the court. And I think what we're seeing from Thomas Bryant has also been equally as impressive. You know, they talked about in training camp how physical he was. You can see that on the court on both offensive. He may not be like BAM on defense or anything like that. He's definitely nowhere near that. But you can feel him in the paint, basically. Right. So on offense, at least. Right, right. He's done a good job of rebounding, too. That's true. Yeah. So, you know, he's still not a shot blocker. I don't think either one of them are, you know, a rim protector like that. But I will say this for anybody paying attention. Orlando Robinson didn't get really he didn't get minutes like that in the first preseason game when the whole roster was available. And then in a second preseason game, because, you know, obviously BAM didn't come, he got more minutes. But it was kind of telling tonight that you didn't see Orlando Robinson until like six minutes left. Thomas Bryant, clearly the backup center to start the season. We don't know it's going to finish that way. Like I maintain Kevin Love may be the starter at the floor to start the season next to BAM. I think ultimately they're going to arrive at Haywood High Smith there. I'm really high on that happening sometime this year, unless they make an upgrade that allows another front court player to play. Or they go in a different direction or Hawkeyes. I know that's what you want to do, but that's a whole other show. Not hockey. He just wants you to say, yo, yo, bitch. I know I was trying to avoid it, but we're not going to derail the program. We can do that on an off day, though. We're going to have a couple of them coming up. That's why we're trying to keep this one concise. 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I know one individual that probably gets real resentment that we haven't mentioned him yet, but here we go. Tyler, mother bleeping hero. 11 of 19, six assists, 30 points, four of seven from three. He is doing things, Matt, where he, I mentioned this briefly, but I think you'll be able to articulate it even better than I. He's not wasting movement. It's not as much of this East-West, I'm going to dance. He's getting to the cup. Even if he doesn't get all the way to the cup, he's getting there enough to where he can get a good angled shot at the basket. And with his skill set, he can make those. What did you make of Tyler's game? I think this guy is in line for a 26 point per game season. I am going on record as saying that I said it earlier and I was kind of saying it tongue in cheek. Now I'm going on record. I think he can have that kind of year. What did you see from Tyler tonight that you liked? I mean, I love how much Tyler has improved as a live ball creator over the last two, three, four seasons, like from his rookie season to now getting those on-ball reps as like a primary shot creator, something that like he's really improved at. And like in the pick and roll, his pacing, his vision, his preciseness and accuracy, his decision making, which with which pass that he wants to throw. And then as you're talking about his, there's no wasted movement there. He, when he's moving around, like he has that, he he's shown more bursts when he has the ball in his hands and he's getting to his spots and he's like being decisive. And he's being as Bo likes to use. He's being intentional with his movements. And so like all of that, if you just put that together, it makes for a really good basketball player and a really good shot creator. And that's something that Tyler has shown at least through these first three preseason games, or at least, I mean, he only played in two of them, but like he's shown in the, he's shown in this preseason sample that like he said, that's something that he just, he's continuing to perfect over time. And it's only going to get better as someone who's 23 and who is getting stronger. And I think that's just something that's really benefited him over time. Stronger. I'm glad you mentioned it. You could see it. And it doesn't mean that he's like swole to the point that you're like, you know, all of a sudden he looks like Bam or Alonzo Mourning or nothing like that. But like, you can see that he's been working on that, the broader shoulders, the not getting pushed off his spots as easy. Matt, before I give the ball to Eternal to take us home, final thoughts on tonight. Just anything maybe we didn't cover. We've been blitzing topics quickly. Anything just, you know, that you wanted to sneak in here before we close. There is like several different rotation players, some of them who didn't play in this game tonight, but like there's just several rotation guys that you can like viably see as like a ninth or 10th guy on this, on this team. Like Miami has like a good problem in terms of like, all right, who's going to crack the rotation as like an eighth or ninth guy? Like it's going to get a little weird with certain guys who don't play on certain nights, who you think should play. And so that's all I'm like, Jamal Kane, for example, there's nights where he might not play. He's probably on the outside looking in anyways, but he's still a guy who you would consider for that spot. Same with Jaime Hawkins. Same with Nicola Jovic over guys who didn't play tonight. Orlando Robinson, who didn't play until there was six minutes left in the fourth quarter. There's, there might be some nights where like Duncan may not get as many minutes as you think, or there's some, there might be some nights where like Heywood Heisman may not get as many minutes as you think. Although I am with you, Greg, on how high I am, how high I am on what Heywood can provide as like a two way, three and D player, just the impact that he creates. But my, it's going to get weird. And I don't really know the direction is going to go in, but like, he's, it's going to get weird on certain nights. And I think suppose going to experiment with that over the first month or so. And of course, injuries will come into play at some point. And so that'll kind of iron itself out, but it's going to get weird. That's just kind of like my point. Yeah. And I think it's a great point because you have so many guys. We've said this team is deeper with functional depth at certain positions and blah, blah, blah. There's been all these taglines and soundbites floating around with new words for what this all means. But for the most part, you got a lot of guys competing for the same minutes. And I think that that could be a good thing. Eternal, Tyler, the creator, Tyler, the score, Tyler, the more efficient player, all of these things are looking good for him. Your Tyler Hero thoughts to close us out and also any of your final thoughts before we get into them. Final thoughts. I do want to thank our sponsors one more time. I'll shout them out at the end. Make sure you're checking us out on playback. We also are doing some really cool stuff with playbook sports where we are on X Twitter spaces as well. So check them out there. But eternal Tyler Hero, your final thoughts. Yes, I am very impressed with Tyler tonight. I think this is the most impressed I've been with Tyler in a very long while. I think he played a very poised game. It was very efficient. He scored 30 points on 11-19 shooting. He was four of seven from three with six assists and four turnovers. So some of the turnovers I wasn't really excited about, but you could tell that there was some improvement with some of his playmaking and just being able to get to his spots a little bit better. Right. Like you talked about earlier, Greg, more north to south, you know, instead of east away. You know, so if you're seeing more of that, that means there's more intention. And one of the things that we talked about after the first preseason game was I want to see a little bit more intention because he had 22 points on 22 shots. So to me, this was a really, really big improvement tonight. So shout out to Tyler and all the hard work that he's been putting in. Definitely looking forward to see how much of that we see this season. As far as any final thoughts, I agree with Matt. Miami is in a great position. And we talked about this on the pod, on Twitter, on playback, all of that, that this team is deeper than it was last year. Like you can just tell that they're deeper than they were last year. And I think that would have been the case even if Vic and Yurt were healthy. I think this team is just deeper. And when Matt said it, it made me think about it. They have four, three of the guys, Josh Richardson, Caleb Haywood and Jamal. Like, that's crazy. So you could literally put them on the floor with Jimmy and have Jimmy running playmaker. And the three-point, you know, the three-point shots have to be respected, but you can go and lock down the other team. And so when you think about, like, just closing lineups at, you know, at the end of games, if you need, like, lockdown defense, man, like Miami has. They got some options this season. And obviously, you know, with Spoke being a madman, there's just so many ways that he can play with the lineup. So I guess my final thoughts would be, like, we're seeing during these preseason games just how deep they are, which is crazy because they don't even have Jaime or Nico or some other guys available. So you're not even seeing a full roster. So I think it's a lot to be excited about as Heat fans, as people that cover the team, you know, obviously they didn't get the deal that they wanted. But I will say to all of you that are listening, just buckle up and prepare for the ride because it won't be the same as last season. Agree. I think that the vibes around this team, the focus around this team, the chip on the shoulder of this team are all good things. And I think that we continue to see little bits of that, but we're not going to make too much of preseason other than the guys that we expected to look good are looking good. And that, for the most part, is pretty damn encouraging. So we'll start there. We're going to end there. We'll unpack this matchup and what it meant, even though we don't know how much it meant anything for the next two days before the Heat buckle up again. I think that their next game is what? Not until Wednesday, is it? Yeah. Wednesday, the 18th, they play at home against Brooklyn. So it will be a moment before we see them again. So you'll hear a lot of our voices in between time. Thank you to Eternal. Thank you to Matt for joining me on the program. Shout out to A-Aggressive Insurance. Shout out to ROK Esports Gaming. Check us out on all our platforms. Have a good night. Thank you for listening to The Five on the Floor on the Five Regional Sports Network.