In our ongoing Goals series for the players of the Miami Heat, we’ll take a look at the goals for Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn and Yante Maten.
While ultimately all goals set by NBA players should be both team-serving and self-serving, for a certain class in the league that takes on a different connotation. For players on minimum non-guaranteed contracts, life is about more than getting minutes and getting into the playoffs. For those players, every day is about survival at the game’s highest level. Three such players are on the Miami Heat roster in the forms of Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn and Yante Maten.
Naturally, goals for these players will be good for their own development, and should they develop they can absolutely produce for the Heat. So any accomplishments they have will be good for everybody, but there may be an extra level of relief and satisfaction for this trio as they make it through guarantee dates, get minutes during the season and play well when given the opportunity to do so.
We’ll break down the top three goals for all three players. Given their similar situations, these apply just about equally for each of them, and achievement of each goal is vital.
Make the team
This is obviously the top goal from which the others stem. This can be aided by performing well in workouts in the offseason and by general good luck as well. Fortunately for this trio, the Miami Heat are in desperate need of cheap help. They’re up against the hard cap as a result of their sign-and-trade for Jimmy Butler, and as a result three players on minimum contracts are more useful than ever.
At the moment, Robinson has his contract guaranteed for the rest of the season, while Maten and Nunn both have guarantee dates on August 1st with another guarantee date on opening night. Robinson’s path is a bit smoother, but Maten and Nunn will be crossing their fingers over the next few days.
Break into the rotation
Making the team is the first step, but breaking into the rotation is a bit tougher. The Miami Heat have a veteran-laden team, so cracking into the rotation for major minutes will be a tall task for this trio. More likely than not, it would take an injury or a series of trades in order to vault one of them into the upper echelon of minutes.
As with many players in their situation, much of what lies ahead for them rests outside of their own control, but capitalizing on opportunity will be incumbent on them should it present itself.
Speaking of which, this leads us to the final goal.
Take advantage of opportunities
Nothing will be given to Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn and Yante Maten, but opportunity may arise for one or more of them. A season ago, thanks to a series of injuries, Robinson ended up playing in 15 games last season and even got to start one game.
He’s looked good enough in each opportunity to earn one more, and that’s going to be the path to continued success for each of this trio. Keep winning the day, and you might get one more day to fight again.
If Robinson, Nunn and Maten live by this mantra, they may yet have a successful 2019-20 season.