Three games into the preseason, James Ennis hasn’t done much to cement his place in the Miami Heat rotation. And he’s being beat out by a rookie.
It seems like eons ago that James Ennis’ feet dangled in front of the face of an unsuspecting Rasual Butler–who may not have even know Ennis’ name at the time he was being posterized–in the Miami Heat’s first game of the 2015 season.
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Ennis has occupied a special place in the hearts of Heat fans since then. His high-flying and always-hustling tendencies offered glimpses of a potential home-grown rotation player. Now, it seems, the 25-year-old wing could be the odd man out in Miami’s deep perimeter rotation.
During summer league, Ennis was outplayed by rookies Justise Winslow and, more surprisingly, Josh Richardson. The team and his camp chalked it up to injury, saying he was dealing with knee tendinitis. Still, he didn’t show any improvement when it came to his loose handles and struggled shooting (26.3 percent). The Heat gave him another chance, convincing him to push back his guarantee deadline to the start of the regular season so that they didn’t have to outright cut him, giving him a chance to prove himself during the preseason.
Things haven’t gotten better.
Erik Spoelstra couldn’t find a way to work Ennis into the rotation in Miami’s first preseason game–a decision he wasn’t happy with, but ultimately says a lot about where Ennis stands.
Spoelstra, on not playing James Ennis in preseason opener, "I felt bad for James. I wanted to play him. It's just tough."
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) October 6, 2015
Both Winslow and Richardson, and rookie Greg Whittington–Ennis’ competition for the 15th and final roster spot–played over him.
Spoelstra has worked Ennis in, sparing five and six minutes in the next two games. In those combined 11 minutes, Ennis has scored seven points, making one of his two shots and scoring the rest from the free throw line. He also has two rebounds. While he has been unspectacular, he also hasn’t been a negative (plus-seven plus-minus so far).
However, the Heat aren’t looking for unspectacular. Ennis is getting by by doing what he does best. Hustling. Throwing his body around. Getting to the line. Meanwhile, Richardson is flashing spectacular ability. Against the Spurs, he stole the ball in the paint and took it down (without losing his dribble) the other way for the fast-break score. It’s more than the sort of thing we thought Ennis could do, it’s the sort of thing LeBron James and the Big Three era Heat did on a regular basis.
Yes, Richardson is making this team. That was a foregone conclusion after summer league. This decision–the decision of the 15th roster spot–comes down to Whittington and Ennis. Both contracts are non-guaranteed. Both won’t figure into the regular rotation.
One, however, competes with Richardson for minutes and, with plays like this, Richardson needs more of those. Take those five or six minutes per game that Ennis is getting and give them to Richardson, and now the second round pick is playing upwards of 10 minutes per game–something the Heat can use more than the pinballing of Ennis.*
It’s worth noting here that against the Spurs, Whittington played 18 minutes versus Ennis’ six. That’s largely due to Josh McRoberts sitting out, but that’s something that could be expected to happen during the regular season and the Heat may need an extra stretch big off the bench.
Maybe the Heat, who tend to err on the side of perimeter players, will opt to keep Ennis over Whittington. It really doesn’t matter all that much, as long as those minutes go to Richardson.
The reality is that, this summer, Miami revamped its roster with more talent and more specialization. Ennis played a part last season, when the Heat needed guys to do lots of things and fill lots of roles, even if they weren’t great–or even good–at those things. Now, the Heat have a stronger identity. That identity is tilted in the favor of Richardson, and Ennis is clearly being pushed out.
*Richardson and Ennis played a lot of those minutes together, but the minutes on the wing are interchangeable. It’s more a practice of rebalancing those minutes between Richardson, Winslow and Gerald Green and, without Ennis, there are more to go around.