The Miami Heat are just mere weeks removed from the agony of a Game 7 defeat in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Boston Celtics, but they are already on the good foot and looking towards next season.
You, of course, have the end-of-season remarks from some of the guys and the man himself, Pat Riley, but now some of those more candid offseason moments are beginning to come up. On Tuesday, Gabe Vincent was feeling chatty.
Speaking about how he has already started to prepare for next year, he insinuated that it’s a thought process followed by the physical acts of it all for him. He, basically, said that it’s all about taking the time to mentally visualize and figure out where he wants to be sharper and then attacking it on the court or in the chosen workout arena.
Noting that his mid-range game is one of the areas that he wants to improve, he would mention that he was studying the likes of Chris Paul, DeMar DeRozan, and Devin Booker to get a better feel for his game there. Every player studies the tape, but Gabe Vincent has proven that he can make drastic improvements via film study.
With the Miami Heat well into their offseason, guys are beginning to go into the lab. Gabe Vincent is surely doing so and talked about it a bit on Tuesday.
A heavily publicized situation between Vincent and Avery Bradley during his time with Miami is one vivid example. You noticed Gabe Vincent starting to become a much better defender and quickly after it was revealed that he had been working with and studying old Bradley film.
He wasn’t done yet though.
Gabe Vincent on Jimmy Butler’s Game 7 shot: I love it. I thought the game was over. I thought we won. I have a lot of faith in Jimmy’s shot. pic.twitter.com/YE4MRDqCeY
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) June 14, 2022
When asked about Jimmy Butler‘s final moments long-distance shot in Game 7 of the Boston Celtics series, Vincent began his response by saying that he was “so glad” that it came up. Here is the rest of his response.
"I loved it. I thought the game was over. I thought we won.I have a lot of faith in Jimmy’s shot. I know he’d take it again and I support that shot. He went for the kill.And I can’t help but appreciate that in a competitor."
Well said from Vincent and as he also said, he would have taken that shot. You can’t cry over spilled milk at this point, but insight from the guys that went to war with Jimmy Butler in all those games is meaningful.
As far as Vincent goes, he’s getting his offseason off to a productive start. Hopefully, that leads to even more improvement from the Miami Heat’s two-way combo dynamo.
If his previous levels of improvement are of any indication, you can count on it and a ton of it.