There were some concerning quotes supposedly coming from the Miami Heat's Nikola Jovic that set social media ablaze throughout the weekend. In the excerpts from a Serbian media outlet, Jovic was saying that he's frustrated with the lack of playing time and his usage as a player. However, he spoke with reporters after Monday's practice at the Kaseya Center to clear the air on what he really meant.
Jovic stressed that the comments he said to the Serbian media were not what he said and was taken out of context. He recalled looking at his messages of people reacting to what he said.
“Coming from Europe, I don’t even use Twitter, so I’m not even looking at what’s happening on Twitter,” Jovic said to the media earlier Monday. “When they first called me, I was laughing because I thought they were joking. Then when I looked it up, it was actually looking bad. I knew that was not me, I feel like people know that’s not me. I never guessed it was going to end up like that, the things I said are totally different.”
The “quotes” from Nikola Jovic that stirred up social media
Here's what was “translated” when asked about being out of Miami's rotation and being used as a center:
“It’s not easy, it’s really not easy. It’s even harder for me than last year. I mean, I kind of feel like I can play and I deserve it. They think I’m not ready yet and I totally understand. There is nothing there. I don’t know where this is going, and all I’m trying to do is be on the field as much as possible. Somehow, even when I’m playing, I feel like maybe I’m being misused. I hope that some things will change.”
“Everything I’m good at, they don’t seem to use, and what I’m worse at, they seem to force it. Those things make me not feel the best on the pitch. What do I know, it will get better.”
When reading the translation, it clearly comes off as a disgruntled player unhappy with the way he's being used by the team. In actuality, Jovic said that's a misrepresentation of what he said, per Wes Goldberg.
“I’m going to say it again, so you guys don’t need to translate it and nobody is going to make it up,” Jovic said. “Basically what I said, this team is playing great without me and minute-wise I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. This team is playing great, so there’s no point of even playing me right now. And I get it, I totally get it. So that was the first thing.”
Jovic's view of the Serbian media
Jovic even had something to say about the Serbian media as a whole. He emphasized to the reporters after Heat practice that they “love to do that” and that there is a ton of “fake rumors.”
“I know they’re going to translate it and you guys are not concerned about Serbian media a lot, but they love to do that,” Jovic added. “A lot of fake rumors. You guys talk to me a lot, you know I would never say something like that. Just know that I respect everybody here. I’ve said a million times, everything they do for me is great and I’m going to get better here. I’m going to get better with them and that’s it. I would never disrespect anyone like that. If I ever had a problem with anyone, I would talk to them personally.”
Jovic's true thoughts on his playing time
So the million-dollar question was presented to Jovic. Is he frustrated with the lack of playing time the Heat have given him? His simple answer was “no,” though he explained further.
“Of course, I want to play and I will help this team as much as I can, but this team was playing great,” Jovic said. “Before the injuries, we were top three in the East, which we should be there. The guys without me are playing unbelievably good, and I support them like last year and they should stay like that.”
There's no doubt the playing time for Jovic has been sparse as he's only played in three regular season games where the last one was in Miami's loss against the Brooklyn Nets Saturday. Because of the injuries, he could see more minutes, but that remains to be seen. The Heat's next game is tomorrow night against the Milwaukee Bucks in the last group play game of the NBA In-Season Tournament.
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