Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra on Wednesday said he was encouraged by how rookie Nikola Jovic played in his first career start versus the Toronto Raptors.
The Heat entered the contest down several players in the frontcourt, including Bam Adebayo (knee) and Omer Yurtseven (ankle). The team opted to turn to Jovic at the center position and the 27th pick performed well in his newfound role.
Jovic produced a season-high 13 points, three rebounds, one assist and one steal in nearly 24 minutes of work in the 112-104 loss. He finished by shooting 4-of-8 from the field and became the youngest player in team history to start at 19 years, 160 days.
Spoelstra was encouraged by his performance.
We felt putting him in with the starters would give him the best chance to be able to complement that group and he was terrific, particularly in that first half. He played with a lot of energy and gave us some relief baskets. He is just going to continue to get a lot better with more experience, more time and more development. I was encouraged by him stepping in there and playing as well as he did on the road.
Jovic got off to a quick start in the contest, scoring 11 points alone in the first quarter. He looked ready for the opportunity to start, set good screens and made few mistakes on the court.
Jovic had logged just 24 total minutes in four games prior to earning the start on Wednesday. He was used primarily in mop-up duty during those appearances and was out of the rotation with so many players ahead of him on the roster.
With his role uncertain this season, though, Jovic stayed ready for the opportunity and was eager to get into the starting lineup for the first time against the Raptors.
I was working hard the last month. I think I was just waiting for them to call my name up. I was ready for whatever. What happened with Bam happened and I needed to step up in the starting lineup and I needed to help my team win. It was a tough loss but I hope next I’m going to help them more.
Though the injury to Adebayo is not considered to be serious, Jovic could see a larger role should he miss any additional time. He also likely played himself into the rotation based on how he performed in his first real game of the season.
He showed that he will be ready the next time his name is called.
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Story originally appeared on Rookie Wire