Goran Dragic Bringing Best Out of James Ennis
By Wes Goldberg
Goran Dragic had one of his best games in a Miami Heat uniform in Tuesday’s 105-10o win against the Charlotte Hornets, scoring 28 points on an efficient 10-of-16 shooting. His ability to run the floor, push the tempo and finish at the rim was on display. It’s been refreshing for the Heat, who were playing at one of the NBA’s slowest paces before making the trade.
It’s also been an adjustment.
Often times, soon after the trade, Dragic would seem uncomfortable in the offense. He would be trying to push the pace while the rest of the team lagged behind. He’d try to force the issue and, while Dwyane Wade welcomed the faster tempo, it took a while for the rest of the team to catch up.
The Heat may have found another good running mate for Dragic, via Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
"Heat forward James Ennis has earned recent minutes because he’s playing well, but a team official said Miami also likes how he plays alongside Goran Dragic. Dragic likes to run and the athletic Ennis is well-suited to the up-tempo game.Entering Tuesday’s game, Dragic had a better plus/minus with Ennis (Heat outscores teams by 14 when they’re paired) than anybody on the team except Chris Andersen. Dragic and Ennis were again on the floor during some very good moments in both halves tonight.Ennis, incidentally, entered tonight with a minus-36 plus/minus when not paired with Dragic, but his work the past week has been very good, the best of his rookie season."
Ennis doesn’t do anything great, but he does a few things pretty well. Particularly cutting and slashing to the basket, playing above the rim, flying around on defense and hustling for loose balls. These are all things that bode well for a faster paced Heat team, and something Dragic surely appreciates.
As a result, Ennis is seeing a lot more playing time. He’s part of Spoelstra’s core rotation in April, when his playing time has increased to 24.7 minutes per game his season average of 15.9. In four games this month, Ennis is averaging 12 points per game on 52 percent shooting, 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. As an added bonus, he’s gone 13-of-14 from the free throw line. For the season, Ennis is averaging 4.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.
He doesn’t deserve all the credit, but a good point guard can bring the best out of his teammates, and that’s precisely what Dragic has been able to do with Ennis. It seems Spo has something here.