Inside The Heat

All ready for the Miami Heat season, but two

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The Miami Heat haven't won a game in a long time, not in the preseason and not in the last postseason -- 10 straight losses in total.

But at least they are entering the 2025-26 season in a reasonably healthy state.

Yes, Tyler Herro remains out, and it still figures to be a few more weeks following his ankle surgery; and Kasparas Jakucionis will get a late start on his rookie campaign due to a groin strain.

But everyone else who endured ailments the past couple of weeks, from Davion Mitchell to Simone Fontecchio to Bam Adebayo to Nikola Jovic -- practiced on Sunday and is set to be ready for next Wednesday in Orlando.

That will give Erik Spoelstra some decisions to make.

Erik Spoelstra
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First, who starts with Adebayo? The guess here is still Jovic, though Ware got a lot of minutes in preseaon and led all NBA players in several categories.

And who starts in place of Herro? It could be Mitchell, or Spoelstra could go with Dru Smith and let Mitchell settle into the bench point guard role he will likely fill when Herro is back.

Also, did Fontecchio show enough in his limited time to get minutes off the bench, or will Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Pelle Larsson push him aside for now? Fontecchio's shooting may be necessary after Miami struggled greatly from behind the arc in every preseason game but the last.

And who closes? This figures to be a game-to-game decision, though Adebayo, Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins (even with his inconsistent play) figure to be fixtures.

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Ethan J. Skolnick
ETHAN J. SKOLNICK

Ethan has covered all major sports -- in South Florida and beyond -- since 1996 and is one of the longest-tenured fully credentialed members of the Miami Heat. He has covered, in total, more than 30 NBA Finals, Super Bowls, World Series and Stanley Cup Finals. After working full-time for the Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Bleacher Report and several other outlets, he founded the Five Reasons Sports Network in 2019 and began hosting the Five on the Floor podcast as part of that network. The podcast is regularly among the most downloaded one-team focused NBA podcasts in the nation, and the network is the largest independent sports outlet in South Florida, by views, listens and social media reach. He has a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and an M.S. from Columbia University. TWITTER: @EthanJSkolnick and @5ReasonsSports EMAIL: fllscribe@gmail.com

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