How good can a Jovic & Adebayo pairing become?

Greg Sylvander recently drew a comparison of Jovic to Hedo Turkoglu.

Over the offseason, many Miami Heat didn’t expect Nikola Jovic to get much playing time in his rookie year. He was the 27th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. And aside from one great summer league game, Jovic looked like a player still adjusting to the NBA level.

But Jovic has played well in preseason thus far. He’s shown his great passing ability for a 6-foot-10 player — a skill Bam Adebayo also shares. He’s grabbed rebounds and pushed the ball up-court, also like Adebayo. But unlike Adebayo, he already has a 3-point shot.

These preseason games don’t have people thinking Jovic can play like Kelly Olynyk. Greg Sylvander of the 5 Reasons Sports network recently drew a comparison to Hedo Turkoglu, who had his best seasons with the Orlando Magic as a point forward next to Dwight Howard.

And Adebayo himself mentioned several advantages of playing with Jovic in a recent article by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald — “spacing, passing, the height, the versatility.”

The Heat never found a replacement for P.J. Tucker. But maybe the long-term fit next to Adebayo is Jovic.