With Adebayo and Robinson watching from bench, Heat opens Las Vegas Summer League with win
Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson were on the bench, but they weren’t available to play. The Miami Heat’s summer league team didn’t need them anyway.
After a 2-0 showing at the California Classic in Sacramento, the Heat opened Las Vegas Summer League on Sunday with a dominant 97-77 win over the Denver Nuggets as Adebayo and Robinson watched on in support at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.
Adebayo was in attendance after flying in from Tokyo, where he won a gold medal with Team USA just a few days ago. And Robinson was in Las Vegas after recently signing his new five-year, $90 million deal with the Heat.
“That’s the great thing, I think, about our guys is they’re willing to spend the time with those guys and talk to those guys and just articulate the game to them on the sidelines,” said Heat assistant coach Malik Allen, who is serving as the summer league head coach.
“You don’t get that in a lot of places. This is great. It’s great leadership on their part, it’s great fellowship on their part because that’s just what we’re about. Those guys want to be here for them, they want to be here for us and the organization. It’s not just for show. It’s what they do. It’s been like this every summer league, so we’re very fortunate to have that as part of our culture.”
But four players who are expected to be on the Heat’s 15-man roster after signing standard NBA contracts this offseason are on the summer league team: KZ Okpala, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Omer Yurtseven. The Heat was without two of them, as Yurtseven was held out because of a blister on his right foot and Vincent was again unavailable.
Yurtseven’s absence came on the heels of his impressive showing in the California Classic last week, as the 23-year-old center totaled 52 points on 20-of-37 shooting from the field and 5-of-11 shooting on threes, 27 rebounds and four blocks in two games with the Heat’s summer squad in Sacramento.
Meanwhile, Vincent has yet to play in a summer league game this year. The 25-year-old guard is with the team and not dealing with an injury, but also just recently returned from Tokyo after representing Nigeria in the Olympics.
Allen said he’s hopeful Yurtseven and Vincent will both be able to return to game action at some point during Las Vegas Summer League.
Okpala and Strus started Sunday.
Okpala, who also played for the Nigerian national team in the Olympics, finished his summer league debut with 13 points on 5-of-18 shooting from the field and 2-of-8 shooting on threes, 11 rebounds and two assists. It marked the first summer league game he has played in during his NBA career.
Strus recorded 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and 3-of-9 shooting on threes, six rebounds and three assists.
Undrafted Kansas guard Marcus Garrett continued to impress as a member of the Heat’s summer league team, especially defensively, and has emerged as a clear candidate for one of the team’s two-way contracts. Garrett, who was named the Naismith and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year as a junior, finished with 10 points with the help of 2-of-3 shooting on threes to go with three steals and two blocks.
Undrafted TCU guard RJ Nembhard ended the night with 18 points, six rebounds and two assists.
The Nuggets’ summer roster includes Davon Reed, who played four seasons for the Miami Hurricanes from 2013-17 and took part in Heat training camp in 2019 before he was waived just before the start of the season. Reed finished with 15 points and three rebounds as a starter for the Nuggets on Sunday.
The Heat will play five games as part of Las Vegas Summer League. Next up is a matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday at 5 p.m. (NBA TV).
This story was originally published August 8, 2021 at 11:50 PM.
