The Miami Heat are a different type of organization. They are a different breed, shall we say.
While they appreciate and want the typical things in a player that makes a player… a player, such as scoring, rebounding, assisting, and all the other typical counting stats that the average fan uses to determine if a player is good or not, that’s not what it’s all about for them.
In fact, the Miami Heat also want, at least, two or three guys around every year that does everything at a high level besides score. They absolutely adore guys that can make a major impact on a game… without needing the rock in their hands or to score it a ton.
P.J. Tucker is one of those guys. Udonis Haslem has been one of those guys.
When they brought Luol Deng in some years ago, he was one of those guys. Shane Battier was one of those guys.
Heck, Brian Grant… was one of those guys. I mean, they may have gotten few buckets… here or there, but their main goals was to do everything else. There’s a guy exactly like that on the roster right now.
Miami Heat: KZ Okpala Absolutely Deserves To Be On The Team
Many of you want him gone. That guy is KZ Okpala.
KZ Okpala still needs to continue to develop his offense, that’s a given. While he is going on his third year in the league, he hasn’t seen a ton of time in real live game action.
However and while that might be needed to, potentially, see his offense take leaps, he’s figured out a way to continue nurturing the other stuff he does well without live game action. That would be handling in all situations, making plays for his team, rebounds, loose balls, deflections, being around the ball, and playing tough hard-nosed defense… among other things.
That is the thing, though, that really makes him worth having… the defense. Talk about his offensive ineptitude all you want… speak about his, perceived, lack of confidence all day.
For all of his offensive issues right now, he’s three times as good defensively. With his instincts on that side, size, and athletic ability, he already has the chance to be an elite defender.
How are you talking NBA Summer League when it comes to being the final judge and jury on the guy… but forgetting it was him assigned to hold Dame Lillard in check just a few short weeks ago in Olympic play… to which he did a great job of doing? Why isn’t that what he’s judged on?
Miami Heat: KZ Okpala Doesn’t Score It Well… Yet, But He Does Everything Else
Also, to the perceived lack of confidence, the fact that he was wiling to take on the Dame-assignment shows a swagger and a confidence to counter those pathetic claims. Even on offense, he’s done quite the bit of chucking, at times, in the Summer League, which shows you that he isn’t scared.
The shots just aren’t falling and that’s fine, because if he keeps taking them, they will. Another reason is because even if they aren’t, though they will at some point, he still offers elite ability on the other side.
If there is a team that can make the most of a physically gifted, athletically gifted, gargantuan of a man, with KZ’s length and fluidity on the floor, it’s the Miami Heat. Heck, he’s a Miami Heat type of player…. as again, he can make a major impact on the game without needing to score.
Okpala won’t be the guy running off the screen to take the final shot. He won’t be the guy that you are putting in the iso to get him an open look.
He’ll be the guy making that big hustle play… that tipped rebound, that deflection, that huge steal, the crucial force-out on defense, that last second dive that causes possession to flip back over, and all of those types of plays… to help seal a Miami Heat win.
You need those types of guys and you guys… Miami Heat fans, should know that… first hand. That’s why KZ Okpala absolutely deserves to be on this team and has a major role to fill if they allow it.