At the start of the second quarter, Josh McRoberts took the court to make his Miami Heat debut. Finally active after off-season toe surgery, McRoberts looked good in his moves.
He was getting to his marks, picking up guys on defense and driving to the rim. He even brought the ball up on one occasion and, with the clock ticking down at the end of the third quarter picked up Alexey Shved on the perimeter to force a missed 3-pointer.
McRoberts finished the game with three points on 1-of-3 shooting and didn’t tally an assist despite being heralded for his passing skills. We did see flashes, though, in which the shooter didn’t convert and therefor McRoberts could not get credited with the assist.
McRoberts passes from unique angles and with great anticipation to find this teammates on the move. That’s what serparates good passers from great ones. Passers like Rajon Rondo and Ricky Rubio tell players where to go with their passes. McRoberts isn’t at that level, but he does a good job leading teammates with his dishes.
But his teammates didn’t always seem to expect them.
That will change as this team gels, and McRoberts not getting any run during the preseason sets him and his teammates back when he is on the floor.
When he’s playing, the court seemed bigger and the Heat more lethal. Without LeBron James, the Heat won’t be as dangerous in transition. But McRoberts could add a Kevin Love-like dimension of outlet passing.
Aside from passing, McRoberts will play much the same way Chris Bosh does. Like Bosh, McRoberts will receive the ball on the elbow where he’ll have the options to (a) shoot (b) drive or (c) pass. For someone coming off toe surgery, choices ‘a’ and ‘c’ were probably the easier ones. But when the drive was there, McRoberts was able to execute.
He and Bosh starting games will give the Heat a new look, one that I illustrated more here. The important thing was that he was on the floor and moving well, and he could start as soon as Sunday’s game against the Toronto Raptors. Overall, his stat line wasn’t impressive, but McRoberts showed flashes of how he can transform the offense.