Giannis Antetokounmpo is still the new star in town, but his fit with the Heat is feeling more natural as the regular season approaches, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes in a subscriber-only story. Antetokounmpo didn’t play in Friday’s preseason finale, but he turned in another dominant performance Wednesday against Brooklyn, finishing with 20 points, 15 rebounds, nine assists, a steal and three blocks in 24 minutes.
“Obviously the more I play with my teammates and with the team, I’m getting more comfortable,” he said. “This is my third game. My teammates, coaches have wanted me to be aggressive, try to make plays. That’s something I’m going to continue to do. Sometimes it’s going to work out, sometimes it’s not. But I’m having fun.”
Antetokounmpo’s arrival in Miami also required adjustments from the rest of the roster to fit his style of play. Throughout the preseason, the Heat have been maximizing his driving skills by surrounding him with shooters and cutters who wind up with open opportunities when a second defender helps in the lane.
“We just try to give him as much space as we can,” Davion Mitchell said. “Move without the ball. Because he also is a really good passer. So he’s going to find you on the open cuts because people are trying to build the wall, so you can cut behind them. He’s going to find you for an open three. Even sometimes, you don’t even know that you’re open, and he ends up finding you. So we’re just trying to give him as much space as he needs. Because he just needs two dribbles and he’s dunking the ball.”
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Ryan Conwell continued his impressive preseason Friday night with 21 points and seven assists in 29 minutes off the bench, Chiang states in a separate story. The Heat traded up to the 37th pick in this year’s draft to select the 22-year-old guard out of Louisville, and he’s making it look like a wise move. He’s averaging 17 PPG over the last three games with 18 assists and just four turnovers. “I would say just the game slowing down a little bit, being able to process things faster, making better reads, just understanding the game,” Conwell said of his growth throughout the preseason. “That’s really just the biggest thing, just learning.”
Andrew Wiggins, who’s entering his second full season with the Heat, believes he had his “best preseason yet,” Chiang adds. Wiggins turned in a tremendous shooting performance in the four games he played, connecting at 60.6% from the field and 46.7% from three-point range. “I couldn’t tell you why, but I put in the work,” he said*. “And the team has been great. It’s been a really great training camp and great days leading into the preseason games. And I feel like with every game, it’s just been getting better. The chemistry has been building.”*
Bobby Portis was acquired from Milwaukee to help match salaries in the Antetokounmpo trade, but the Heat consider him to be much more than a throw-in, per Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel (subscription required). The veteran big man shot 45.6% from beyond the arc last season and his experience playing alongside Antetokounmpo should be valuable. “He’s a guy that I’ve played with for many, many years,” Antetokounmpo said. “He knows exactly when I have the ball, how I operate, where the open spot will be for him.”