The Miami Heat are an organization that have come to be known to excel at many things. And when it comes to that ability to excel, it isn’t just limited to the other major sports franchises of the NBA.
When it comes to certain aspects of team building and running a franchise successfully, there are some things that the Miami Heat are, simply, unmatched at in any arena of professional sports. One of those areas is finding talent.
Be that talent that was written off too early, talent that wasn’t ever fully unearthed, or guys that were never even really or truly probed into, the Miami Heat have a gift to find those guys, maximize them, and proceed to help them become regular full-time NBA players.
Their roster is littered with examples. One of their most recent though, is the electric, when-going, Kendrick Nunn.
Starting all 67 contests he would play in for the Miami Heat during his rookie year, he would average 15.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists on the year, while shooting 35 percent from deep.
The Miami Heat excel at finding talent and more than the average pro team. Kendrick Nunn and his, potentially, short stint in LA is one piece of proof.
Though he would shoot better from range in his second season at 38.1 percent, he wouldn’t quite match his scoring averages from his first year, contributing 14.6 points, 3.2 boards, and 2.6 dimes on the year.
And after two dynamic seasons in Miami, Nunn would take his talents to Tinsel Town. But after just 18 games played during his Los Angeles Lakers tenure, missing all of last season with a knee issue, it appears that he may not be long for the purple and gold either.
Here is the latest on that chatter from The Athletic (subscription required).
"The Lakers’ updated timeline on beginning to explore trade options is Dec. 15, and they are weighing three different paths, multiple team sources told The Athletic. Here’s what you need to know:Path 1 is to trade Russell Westbrook, plus a pick or two, for a star or multiplayer haul.Path 2 is to trade some combination of Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn and picks (one first-round and/or multiple second-round picks) for role players who better address needs and upgrade the rotation.Path 3 would be two separate deals: one with Westbrook plus one first-round pick, another using a Beverley-Nunn-pick package."
Thinking that he would be a major piece of their championship puzzle, Nunn has failed to live up to the hype that many fans had for him entering his first year out west. While it isn’t certain where Nunn may end up when all the dust settles, perhaps still there in LA, it all circles back around to the point made at the top.
The Miami Heat are, flat-out, special when it comes to maximizing guys that others can’t. Among many examples, this is yet another, and all a huge part of what makes this Miami Heat developmental reverence more fact than it isn’t.