The Miami Heat are sporting a 16-5 record thus far in the 2019-20 season. While that’s a bright spot itself, another bright spot is UDFA rookie, Kendrick Nunn.
The Miami Heat always find a way to make things happen. While they aren’t always one of the best teams in the NBA, record-wise, they are always competitive and always find a way to be a nuisance to the team on the opposing side of the floor. They are also great at finding a way to make things happen on the talent acquisition side of things.
At the end of last season, the last day of last season to be exact and as the now-famous story goes, the Miami Heat signed a Kendrick Nunn to a regular contract off of the G-League squad of none other than the Golden State Warriors. While the Warriors are probably kicking themselves right now, which is neither here nor there, the Miami Heat apparently found a gem.
Nunn got off to a blazing start to the season, scoring 24, 18, 25, 17, and 28 points respectively, across his first five pro games. He shone so brightly that he was even ranked as the number one candidate on some people’s Rookie Of The Year lists.
While he still maintains averages of 15.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists, he has cooled off a bit over the last stretch of games. Along with his cooling off, he has seemingly begun to also make negative plays for his team or plays that he didn’t make to start the season, which is probably due to his shooting struggles of recent.
With these things in mind though, it is time for Coach Erik Spoelstra to make the tough decision on Nunn. What is this, one might ask? It is time for Nunn to come off the bench for this Miami Heat team.
The first reason is seen in the raw numbers themselves. Across the eight games against what we know to be and would outright consider being good teams thus far in the NBA this season, Nunn has averaged just 9.25 points, about six points less than his season average. Against the rest of the teams and across the other 13 games of the season, he has averaged 19 points or about four points more per game than his season average.
There is a clear cut fact becoming revealing itself here. He simply plays better, with more confidence, and aggressiveness versus the bad teams in the league at the moment. With him coming off of the pine for the Heat, every night would simulate out to playing a bad team because he would be playing against other bench units for the most part.
The second main reason here has been what the eyes have shown you over the past few games with Nunn. When his shot isn’t falling, he begins to hunt, which not only can come off as a bit selfish(not calling him that) but also disrupt the flow of the team and offense.
When looking at further reasons, it has little to do with Nunn himself, just more a function of him being in that starting slot. Duncan Robinson has shown what he can do when he gets going.
It is also a proven fact based on his starter versus bench splits that he plays better when playing alongside the starting unit. Moving Nunn to the bench would help to quell both these issues, but it also clarifies the last important reason why this decision must be made, with Duncan Robinson stepping in after our favorite big guard went down.
Justise Winslow was and has been the starter since last season and a very effective one for this Miami Heat team, might I add. He missed a few games this season due to concussion-related issues, but was relegated to a bench role upon returning. While it was unclear in his first game back if this was a thing or just being done to ease him back into the groove of things, he has since come off the bench in every game.
Justise Winslow is and needs to be a starter. Unlike Nunn, even if his shot isn’t falling, he affects the game with his ability to get others involved while also distracting defenses with the things he does on the court.
So, to tie a bow around it, Nunn is a great player and should grow into a permanent starter for this Heat team in future years. He doesn’t appear to be the best fit there at the moment, some due to his own weaknesses and some due to the scenario surrounding the makeup of the team.
What’s best for the team right now is to have the best version of Duncan Robinson and Justise Winslow on the floor and the starting versions of them are their best selves. Nunn has shown that he could better serve the team by doing him every night against slightly weaker competition, rather than streaking through the season and mainly putting up gaudy numbers on bad teams. That is why it is time for Spo to make the tough decision that would be bringing Nunn off the bench.