MIAMI — The Nets’ preseason finale against the Heat presumably will be a dress rehearsal for the regular-season opener, and Nets coach Jacque Vaughn expressly used the game against the 76ers on Monday night to assess players at the back end of his roster.

Some were fighting for spots in the rotation, some for jobs.

Some were battling for both.

Trendon Watford didn’t disappoint.

The young forward had 13 points and seven rebounds in just 16:14 against Philadelphia.

He hit both of his 3-point attempts and even looked creative as a secondary playmaker.

“[Vaughn] is always just encouraging me, telling me little things to get better at and little things he sees. In the time I’ve been here, he’s put the ball in my hands a lot. So he likes how I play-make and stuff,” Watford told The Post on Tuesday. “So yeah, that’s really it; he just wants me to keep doing that and keep getting better defensively. And I think I’ve took a step forward in that.”

Watford will enter the preseason finale at the Heat fourth on the Nets in points (11.7) and blocks, and fifth in rebounds.

The latter stats are auspicious, even more than his solid .476/.500/.867 shooting splits.

At 6-foot-9, 241 pounds, Watford was known as an inside-out scorer with a creative offensive game in his two seasons with the Trail Blazers.

Ben Simmons joked that Watford was a point guard, and truthfully he has looked very comfortable on the ball.

“That was something I did a lot in Portland, even in college, high school, everywhere,” Watford told The Post. “My coaches pretty much let me play-make and do what I like to do. So yeah, I’ve been doing that for a while now.”

Still, the biggest task for the 22-year-old has been tightening up his leaky defense.

That’s the most important step for him to become a rotational player, which he has been working on with assistant Jay Hernandez.

“Just being in the right spot, watching film and talking with my coaches. And just watching these other guys, just learning from them,” Watford said. “And obviously I’m new to the team, new to all the concepts and stuff. So just trying to watch them.

“It’s just more like being in the right spot, just knowing where I need to be at. Obviously personnel has to do with a lot of it, but just watching film and just trying to learn how the Nets play defense and how Jacque wants to play defense. So just trying to learn that side of the ball.”

Along with Watford, the Nets also inked Darius Bazley, Dennis Smith Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV to veteran minimum deals, and signed Harry Giles to an Exhibit 10 contract.

Fighting for rotation spots is going to be tough with a fairly set top-seven, while Smith and Cam Thomas seem to be in good positions as well.