3 Keys for Heat Against the Magic: Adebayo-Ware sighting and more

The Heat are starting to restock up on their guards as we get closer to the start of the regular season. Davion Mitchell has been dealing with some calf soreness coming out of camp, but he finally returns to real game action today in Orlando. The expectation is that he will start, since they need to get him back into the swing of things, considering he should be Herro's starter insert to kick off the season. The defense is a known thing when it comes to him touching the floor, but the offense will be interesting to watch as he tries to attain that extremely high bar he set last season. There shouldn't be an expectation that he's going to shoot 45% from three once again or score a certain amount of points a night, since his game simply translates to impact. More than bare numbers, I'm interested in seeing his back-court pairing with Norman Powell that'll be key for the first month or two of the season.

2. The first Bam Adebayo-Kel'el Ware sighting this season?

Bam Adebayo and Kel'el Ware have been a flickering on/off switch for most of this pre-season, after starting next to each other for the second half of the season last year. Not only have these two not started next to eachother in the pre-season, they haven't even logged a minute together. This feels like the opportunity to let the two big guys get some reps next to one another again, as it still is a vital piece of this season for the spacing and offense to click with these two out on the floor together. The lineup today should look a lot like the one that got swept off the floor in the first round against Cleveland, except Norman Powell subbing into Herro's spot. Erik Spoelstra and the coaching staff want Ware to build off his high energy night against the Spurs, and maybe a new role with the starters could give him another positive bump.

3. Kasparas Jakucionis watch: can he build off his debut?

Kasparas Jakucionis is coming off an extremely impressive pre-season debut to kick off his rookie season. Surprising defense, elite vision with 10 assists against the Spurs, and scoring upside. But as we saw in Las Vegas Summer League, he had the one breakout offensive game where he showed flashes. The key now is that he can showcase consistency. The role will be there again for him, even with Mitchell returning, which means sustaining that fast style and constant ball movement to keep the offense afloat. He potentially won't be paired as often with Kel'el Ware if he's elevated to the first unit, which pretty much means this might lean in his scoring direction compared to last game's play-making. With the unknown of his role heading into the regular season, we want to see as much Jakucionis in preseason as we can.