Over the last few weeks, Simone Fontecchio has slowly been regressing to the mean. And, in the process, the Miami Heat are making the realization that the Detroit Pistons had already come to. It's the unfortunate reality that Fontecchio is just not a player that can be relied on over the course of an entire season.
Fontecchio does have his hot streaks, but ultimately, he's just not a consistent enough player for him to be considered a true difference-maker. The Heat are beginning to understand that, and that's probably why Detroit was so willing to part ways with him this past summer.
After a strong start to this season, Fontecchio has been pretty cold over his last seven games. It's a real shame considering how impressive Fontecchio looked through the first 14 games of the season.
Simone Fontecchio's fall has been dramatic
During that span to open the regular season, Fontecchio was averaging 12 points per game on 50 percent shooting from 3-point range. Sure, it was an outrageous (and probably unrealistic) pace for him to keep up, but it was certainly encouraging production.
Fontecchio's play over the last few games has certainly shifted. Over the last seven games, Fontecchio is averaging just seven points per game on 17 percent shooting from 3-point range. It's been a sudden and unfortunate fall from grace for the sharp-shooting big man.
It's truly a difficult balancing act for Spo. On one hand, the Heat needs Fontecchio's shooting on the floor. But, on the other hand, Fontecchio has been a bad shooter over the last few weeks. The hope is that he will eventually break out of this recent slump, but it's also no guarantee.
As the Pistons quickly learned, it wasn't in their best interest to continue to lean on Fontecchio. So when a possible upgrade became available (Duncan Robinson), they didn't hesitate to make such a move.
Interestingly enough, it was the Heat on the other side of that deal.
The Heat weren't necessarily betting on Fontecchio to emerge as a big contributor for the team this season; it kind of evolved that way. However, now that his shooting is not as consistent, it's certainly hurting the team's offensive efficiency.
It's easy to forget that one of the Heat's big questions coming into this season revolved around their lack of 3-point shooting. It wasn't that big of an issue through the first few weeks of the year, partially due to Fontecchio's production.
However, all of a sudden, the Heat may have a 3-point shooting problem. And they're quickly learning something the Pistons already learned about Fontecchio - that he can't be relied upon as a consistent contributor.