East Notes: Heat, Kevin Love, Knicks, Immanuel Quickley, Bucks

Heat

• Second-year forward Nikola Jovic played well in the FIBA World Cup but the Heat would likely still be willing to include him in a trade for Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard, per Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
• Both Jovic and rookie forward Jaime Jaquez are considered pieces that could be moved in the Heat’s pursuit of Lillard. Same goes for guard Tyler Herro. Miami has been hesitant to include wing Caleb Martin in a package for Lillard.
• The Heat appear to be content with Kevin Love as their starting power forward heading into camp, sources told Hoops Wire. They also are excited about the continued rise of backup Haywood Highsmith.

Knicks

Guard Immanuel Quickley and the Knicks have yet to take part in any serious talks on a contract extension, per Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports.

“No substantive stuff. There is basically a month or so, but in these things, that is plenty of time,” a source told Deveney.

The Knicks will again have a crowded backcourt with the likes of Quickley, Jalen Brunson, newcomer Donte DiVincenzo and even Miles McBride and Quentin Grimes.

“(Quickley) is going to want nine figures,” a team executive told Deveney. “And that’s for four years. I can’t say the Knicks will go that high but they might have to. He is not a guy you want to send to restricted free agency.”

Bucks

New coach Adrian Griffin indicated he isn’t concerned with comments from star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who recently implied the pressure is on the Bucks to keep him in Milwaukee.

“He wants to win and I want to win and it’s that simple,” Griffin said, via Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “So I respect him. I respect what he’s accomplished in this league and we’re here together to win. So I have no problem with that. I think it’s a great partnership. We’re going to lead the team together. When he leads, the others will follow, so I think it’s great.”

Griffin added that he doesn’t feel any added pressure after Antetokoumpo’s comments, and suggested that winning cures all.

“Absolutely not. We’re here. We’re aligned. We’re here to win,” Griffin said. “And the one thing I talked to my team and our staff about is just embracing expectations. I have a really good roster. Instead of running from it, we want to embrace it. It just takes one day at a time though. Yes, we want to go far and deep into April, May and June but it’s about just one step at a time and taking care of our controllables and it starts with practice.”