With training camp roughly a month away, it’s becoming abundantly clear how the Miami Heat is going to emerge as a potential unlikely contender this season in the Eastern Conference. If that does happen this year, it will likely come with the development of Nikola Jovic and Pelle Larsson.

At least that’s what the team is hoping. According to the Miami Herald, one of the Heat’s big hopes for this upcoming season is that both Jovic and Larsson emerge as much better players for Miami after their experience in the EuroBasket Tournament.

“The Heat is hoping this year’s EuroBasket experience will help Jovic and Larsson return as better versions of themselves this upcoming season, with the start of NBA training camps only five weeks away.”

Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald

This isn’t ground-breaking by any means, that the Heat is hoping that their young players continue to make strides in their game, but I don’t think we all realize just how important they are to this specific Heat team.

Why Jovic and Larsson could be huge keys for the Heat

Because of how the Heat operated this summer, it’s almost as if they’re expecting the likes of Larsson and Jovic to make big leaps in their development. That became even clearer after they decided to trade Haywood Highsmith a couple of weeks ago.

The trade of Highsmith opens the door for Larsson to play a bigger role this season. For Jovic, well, the Heat’s confidence in him is pretty evident, considering Miami didn’t sign any big man this summer to back up Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware.

That probably means that there’s a good chance Jovic starts at the 4 next to Bam, and that Ware is going to get the call as the primary backup big off the bench.

But despite the Heat’s hopes, none of that will work this season if Larsson and Jovic aren’t ready for bigger roles. If they do make a jump in their development that no one outside of the Heat’s offices believes will happen, it will completely change the outlook for Miami this season.

It’s easy to overlook the Heat because of the lack of headlining moves they made this offseason, but there’s a path toward them emerging as somewhat of a surprise dark horse in the Eastern Conference. And, in many ways, that onus does fall on the shoulders of their young players, taking a big jump, specifically Jovic and Larsson.