Heat summer focus with Cain, Robinson is preparing them for regular-season roles

LAS VEGAS — Among Caron Butler’s assignments as coach of the Miami Heat summer roster is working as translator.

Because for all that returning players such as Orlando Robinson and Jamal Cain have accomplished over the first week of summer league, this stage of the offseason remains about setting up a bigger stage.

That has Butler planting the seeds of what will be necessary for each in real games, during the regular season, when summer stars have to turn back into complementary components.

So, no, Robinson likely won’t be going for 36 points during the regular season as he did during the Heat’s opener of the NBA2K24 Summer League.

“Honestly,” Butler said, “we know that he can score big numbers in the summer league. But most important, he’s trying to find out how he can be an asset to the main team. And he has to continue to work on those things in pockets.”

That makes the points a bonus. But it makes defense, rebounding, lower turnovers and fewer fouls the priorities.

As for Cain, it has been about getting away from getting too comfortable with the ease of offense he had as a rookie last season in the G League or even against the scattershot defenses of summer league.

“When he was in the G League,” Butler said, “he had the ball in his hand a lot, isolation stuff, a lot of dribbles. But here, one one-thousand, two one-thousand, getting off of it, playing off better players.

“He’s learned so much. And he understands where he needs to be from a spacing standpoint on the floor.”

It also has Butler putting his focus on Cain’s defense.

“That’s the main thing for him,” Butler said, with the Heat’s schedule continuing with a 5:30 p.m. Eastern game Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks’ summer roster. “That was the call to action prior to coming to summer league, that we want you to be a lockdown defender. With your length, with your ability, your mobility, your quickness, you have to show that you can impose your will on some of the best offensive players.”

More coming

Even with the foot problem that has been limiting him during summer league, Heat 2022 first-round pick Nikola Jovic said his plan is still to try out for the Serbian national team for the World Cup, which runs Aug. 25-Sept, 10 in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Jovic said he is poised for a quick turnaround, with NBA training camps then opening Oct. 2.

“I don’t think I’ll have much rest, because training camp for the Serbian national team starts the 24th of July,” he said. “So I’m preparing for that. And I hope everything goes well and I end up playing World Cup for Serbia.”

He said a busy offseason would be worth the extra work.

“We’re a small country and everybody’s watching,” he said. “The first time I watched basketball, it was the national team.”

A potential starting lineup for Serbia in the World Cup is Nikola Jokic, Aleksej Pokuševski, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Vasilije Micic and Jovic. Former Heat forward Nemanja Bjelica is also an option for Serbia’s rotation.

“It can help me a lot,” Jovic, 20, said of being called up to the national team. “We’ll see, we’ll see. I know it’s going to be a long summer.”

Schedule change

The Heat’s Friday game against the Denver Nuggets’ summer roster originally scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2 has been changed to an 8:30 p.m. Eastern start on NBA TV.