After the best game of his young career thus far, it does seem as if Erik Spoelstra may have successfully found the Miami Heat's next hidden gem in Ryan Conwell.
If it wasn't clear before, it surely is now. Conwell has emerged as the Heat's newest draft steal in a long list of hidden gems in Heat history. On Friday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Conwell was one of the Heat's best players, finishing with 20 points and five rebounds on 6-for-12 shooting from the field and 4-for-9 shooting from 3-point range.
Ryan Conwell is earning his way into Erik Spoelstra's good graces
Over the last couple of weeks, Conwell has been slowly buying his time within Erik Spoelstra's rotation. Now that he's put four strong performances together, he's played his way into a spot that Spoelstra can't pull him out of the rotation, even if he wanted to.
But as Andrew Wiggins and Tim Hardaway Jr. continue to struggle, Conwell has helped ease the struggle for Spoelstra. As a rookie second-round draft pick, Conwell is approaching rare territory this early in the season, even for past Heat success stories.
In his last four games, Conwell is averaging 11 points and three rebounds on 40 percent shooting from the 3-point range. Perhaps most importantly, the Heat are 3-1 during that stretch. Against the Cavs, I'm not sure if the Heat still win without the energy and effort that Conwell brought while helping fill in for an absent Klay Thompson and Pelle Larsson.
While the offensive production is nice and a welcome sight for Heat fans, there may not be another metric than minutes played that tells the story of how much Spoelstra is beginning to trust the rookie.
Aside from Bam Adebayo and Davion Mitchell, there's no other Heat player who logged more minutes than Conwell's 33 minutes against the Cavs. Spoelstra is genuinely starting to trust the rookie, and the results have been encouraging for the Heat.
Spoelstra is certainly hoping that Hardaway Jr. will eventually break out of this early-season slump, but the quicker-than-expected emergence from Conwell has certainly given the Heat some unexpected grace on this front.
Ryan Conwell's quick emergence gives Erik Spoelstra an unexpected reliable piece
Make no mistake; if Hardaway Jr. does eventually break out of his slump, this early-season stretch from Conwell is only going to make the Heat that much more dangerous down the road.
Of late, the Heat have needed Conwell to take on a bigger role than anticipated, but he's responded well. Many believed that Conwell had a chance to emerge as a rotation piece for the Heat at some point this season. I'm not sure anyone expected it to happen this early, and to look this good in the process.
Spoelstra and the Heat have done it again, unearthing arguably the best second-round rookie from the 2026 NBA Draft class thus far.
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