In a move that caught fans by surprise, the Miami Heat assigned first-round pick Shabazz Napier to the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA D-League.
One of the best parts of watching any Miami Heat game was when Shabazz Napier checked in, now fans will be forced to slog through a point guard rotation of Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers next to Dwyane Wade.
In fact, Erik Spoelstra now has just those three guys–and the option of playing James Ennis at the 2–in his guard rotation. That likely means a few more minutes for both Cole and Chalmers and less 3-guard looks from the team.
Oh, and if Wade can’t go? The Heat have a problem, then. Maybe they call up Napier for those games, but we are getting ahead of ourselves now. Let’s take a quick look at why this happened.
Napier has appeared in 23 games with the Heat this season averaging 5.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 21.4 minutes while shooting 42.9 percent from the field. He recently had a six-game stretch from November 16 through November 25 in which he scored in double-figures, the longest such streak by a Heat rookie since Michael Beasley did so in eight-consecutive games in April of 2009.
But since then, Napier’s been unable to score more than seven points in any of the Heat’s eight games, and was held scoreless four times in those games. It was Miami’s most brutal slate of games of the season, with only one-of-eight games played at home.
It’s unlike anything Napier went through in college at UConn and likely why he struggled, averaging 2.8 points and 1.3 assists since Thanksgiving.
What is interesting here is that Napier had seemingly been turning a corner before this brutal road trip. In a December 1 post on MiamiHeat.com, Spoelstra had praised Napier for his performance.
"It is clear that Erik Spoelstra trusts the rookie in late-game situations. While Spoelstra said that he isn’t in “big-time evaluation mode right now,” he did credit Napier’s work ethic for why he’s been able to pick things up quickly so far.“You don’t know what to expect with young players,” Spoelstra said. “You try to teach them the work ethic and the commitment. And the consistency to that work ethic every single day and he’s been good about that.”"
Napier talked about how the team was starting to gel.
"“I think it’s just me being comfortable with my teammates and understanding what my teammates like at that moment of the game,” Napier said. “All these players here are definitely tremendously talented. I think it’s the [team] chemistry that’s being built that’s making everybody so comfortable.”“I think as a team we’ve just been playing much better,” Napier said. “Our chemistry is becoming much better. You know, it’s a day-to-day process and it’s a lot of new guys.”"
For the foreseeable future, Napier won’t be a part of that process. Meanwhile, the Heat will be working with a 10-man active roster. With Napier and center Hassan Whiteside re-assigned, it seems Chris Andersen is ready to return after missing nine-straight games and Ennis will likely play a larger role.
Miami’s starting lineup of Cole, Wade, Luol Deng, Josh McRoberts and Chris Bosh will remain the same, and Chalmers will continue getting nearly 30 minutes per game as the sixth man filling in at both guard spots.
Andersen should be the first big off the bench (unless he’s injured, in which case it will continue to be Justin Hamilton or Udonis Haslem) and Shawne Williams will be the second. Danny Granger will get his run in place of Deng and Ennis–the guy most impacted by these moves other than Cole and Chalmers–should see an increase from his 14 minutes per game.
Napier had been closing games for the Heat much of the season, but Chalmers was the man at the end of Miami’s recent win against the Utah Jazz.
.@iDeeKayyy Napier’s minutes declined significantly this past week. Spoelstra probably just wants to get Napier some more work.
— Joseph Goodman, Sports Enthusiast 🎟🍺 (@JoeGoodmanJr) December 13, 2014
Napier won’t likely stay on the Sioux Falls Skyforce for long. Maybe Spoelstra just wants to tighten the rotation and figures Napier’s time would be better spent playing more in the D-League. Napier is a natural running the offense and his defense has improved, but he’s an inconsistent shooter.
Shabazz Napier played a total of 26 min the last 3 games, but reassignment to Sioux Falls is pretty surprising. Might be a quick one.
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) December 13, 2014
By no means in this a permanent move, nor should it be a major commentary on Napier’s play this season. This sort of thing happens, and we’ll certainly see Napier back with the Heat sooner rather than later.