When the Miami Heat traded Duncan Robinson away for Simone Fontecchio, it looked like the Heat were making a massive mistake. Miami had sent away one of their best three-point shooters and, in return, got an unproven player at the NBA level.
But on Friday night, as Miami's offense as a whole went to a whole different level, Fontecchio looked like the type of player who could unlock the entire offense for Miami this season.
Simone Fontecchio has a monster night off the bench
Fontecchio entered with just under two minutes to go in the second quarter and immediately looked like an NBA Jam player who was on fire.
Fontecchio simply couldn't miss, and by the time he subbed back out with a little under six minutes to play in the second quarter, he was 4-4 from three and had an alley oop layup to boot.
His 14 1st half points helped balloon the lead from 35-21 when he entered to 71-38 by the time he left.
Fontecchio had a quiet second half and missed a couple of open shots that he would probably like back, but that nine-minute burst showcased why Miami was willing to go after him in the trade market.
And it helped keep the momentum going for a Miami offense that seemingly out of nowhere found its spark and looked like a squad we hadn't seen in ages. The Heat had 86 points at halftime before entering cruise control in the 2nd half, but still wound up with 146 points on the night.
If you are keeping score at home, it took until game 81 last year to top 140 points in a single game.
Preseason results flipped
Fontecchio came into the season as a career 36% three-point shooter in 193 NBA games. Prior to coming to America, he was a career 40% shooter from deep in the EuroLeague with a high free-throw percentage to boot.
Part of the angst from Heat fans was the preseason that Robinson had put together, while Fontecchio had shot an abysmal 27% from deep in the preseason slate.
It looked especially comical that Miami had let him go as the Heat as a whole shot brick after brick from deep and emerged from the preseason as the only winless team in the NBA after being a bottom-third three-point shooting team.
But if Fontecchio can capture those nine minutes in the first half and keep that consistent throughout the 2025-26 campaign, the Heat can easily flip the script and become the clear winners of the trade.