Make the team
Needless to say, making the team was the most important goal for this duo. Remember that this was originally a trio, and the fact that one of them actually didn’t make the team reveals the peril of their overall situation.
Sure enough, Duncan Robinson and Kendrick Nunn did make the team, impressing in training camp and then doing enough to get the job done in the preseason. Robinson didn’t have an exceptional preseason, scoring just 8.4 points per game while shooting 31.8 percent from the floor in 21.4 minutes per appearance, but it was sufficient.
As for Nunn, he burned a bit brighter. He scored 13.8 points per game, shooting 51.9 percent from the floor and 47.8 percent from 3-point range.
It certainly seems as though head coach Erik Spoelstra had seen enough from both of them before the preseason even began to virtually cement themselves on the roster at the very least. It surely didn’t take long before they earned even more of his trust as they worked their way up the pecking order on this team into trusted and vital spots.
So vital, in fact, that not only are their spots secure on the team, but they have far surpassed anything that could have been projected for them at such an early stage.