The NBA Summer League schedule just wrapped up. One takeaway is that three of the Miami Heat standouts may indeed crack the regular season rotation.
The Miami Heat along with the rest of the teams involved just finished summer league play. The NBA Summer League is often a place that rookies, second and third-year guys, and journeymen go to show their stuff. This is usually for one of a few reasons.
They want to show that they belong in this league as rookies, show that they have taken a step as second or third-year guys, or land a spot or training camp invite as journeymen. The Miami Heat definitely had players to check two of those three boxes during this past Summer League session.
Miami Heat shooting guard Kendrick Nunn got his off in the summer league, so much so, that he was named First Team All Summer League. He averaged 22 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists, while also shooting impressive percentages overall and from three.
His assist numbers combined with his ability to finish off dribble drives displays that he might be able to play a bit more point guard than his position label implies. At a minimum, he should be treated as a combo guard, providing his abilities to get his teammates involved. Here is a tweet from the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang that goes into a bit more detail.
Heat guard Kendrick Nunn named to the NBA Summer League First Team. Nunn averaged 22 points while shooting 50.5 percent from the field and 38.5 percent shooting on threes, 4.3 rebounds and 5.2 assists in six summer league games. Nunn is the only Heat player on the list.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) July 15, 2019
Second-year forward Duncan Robinson is also a player that fits into this category. Robinson not only had an impressive summer league showing, but his contract terms also got a bit more generous as of 11:59 pm on Monday night.
Signing a contract with the Miami Heat back in April, if Robinson was still on the roster as of the end of Monday night, his guaranteed money would immediately jump from $250,000 dollars to $1 million dollars according to this piece from Anthony Chiang.
Robinson impressed either way. He put up the Summer League numbers of a man that was eager to see his role with the team and his wallet grow in a meaningful fashion. Here is a quote from Chiang’s piece detailing his performance.
"Robinson, who was one of the Heat’s two-way contract players last season after going undrafted in 2018 out of Michigan, averaged 16.3 points while shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 33.9 percent on threes, 5.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists in seven summer league games. With the goal to prove he’s more than just a three-point shooter, he looked comfortable making plays off the dribble and displayed growth as a rebounder and defender, which were areas the Heat wanted to see improvement in."
Another Summer Leaguer who really impressed over the past few weeks is none other than Miami Heat rookie, Tyler Herro. Herro not only displayed the silky smooth yet deadly jump shooting that we all knew he had coming out of the draft, but he also displayed a hefty dose of the well-rounded game that he flashed during his time at Kentucky.
Whether Herro was pulling up in transition for open threes, weaving his way to the bucket for a nifty finish, or finding space to set up a dish or dropoff for a teammate, he was on his game during the NBA Summer League. Herro was so much the show, that he set social media and the internet ablaze with some of his moves and performances. Here is a small example.
https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1148728832112902146
Whether you want to look at the versatility shown by all three, the improvement shown by the two second-year guys, or the impression left by the NBA rookie, they all overwhelmingly impressed during the Summer League. Nunn should be able to help with guard duties, as well as get a bucket at times if and when he is seeing the floor for the Miami Heat.
Duncan should be able to find a way to get his shot off, being a deadly marksman from deep, while also taking advantage of the other improvements in his offensive, defensive, and all-around game. Herro should definitely be a great help to a Miami Heat team that at times last year struggled to not only find someone to hit the three, but score in general.
Regardless of which take or assessment you choose to go with about either of the three of them, it should boil down to one thing over all the others. These are three very talented players that should be able to help this Miami Heat team during the regular season. Even if only in short spurts or sets of minutes, they should all see time as members of the Miami Heat regular season rotation at some point.