Heat closes summer league with win behind another big performance from Orlando Robinson
Since Damian Lillard’s trade request on July 1, the Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers have been linked as potential trade partners. On Sunday, they faced each other in a summer league game.
The Heat closed this year’s summer league action with a 104-78 blowout win over the Trail Blazers on Sunday night at Thomas & Mack Center on UNLV’s campus.
The Heat’s last two first-round picks Nikola Jovic (left team to prepare for World Cup) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (shoulder injury) did not play, but other intriguing developmental prospects did.
▪ Center Orlando Robinson capped an impressive summer league with another standout performance, finishing Sunday’s win with 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting from three-point range, nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and one block.
Including a 36-point effort to open Las Vegas Summer League, the 23-year-old Robinson averaged 20.5 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 53 percent from the field and 8 of 21 (38.1 percent) from beyond the arc in six games during his encouraging summer league run. His improved three-point shot is one of the most notable aspects of his stat line.
The Heat already promoted Robinson from a two-way contract to a partially guaranteed standard contract earlier this month. He’s on track to be on Miami’s 15-man roster this upcoming season.
▪ Forward Jamal Cain closed his second summer league with the Heat with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting on threes, two rebounds and one assist in Sunday’s win.
Cain, who remains a restricted free agent, averaged 15.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 8 of 21 (38.1 percent) from three-point range in six games during this year’s summer league.
Cain, 24, remains a restricted free agent after spending his rookie season on a two-way contract with the Heat. He’s hoping Miami offers him a standard contract this offseason to make him part of its 15-man roster, but that hasn’t happened yet.
▪ Guard Dru Smith, who the Heat signed to a two-way contract earlier this month, finished Sunday’s win with 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field and 0-of-6 shooting on threes, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Smith, 25, averaged 11.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.7 steals per game in six games during this year’s summer league.
▪ Guard Jamaree Bouyea, who the Heat also signed to a two-way contract earlier this month, did not play Sunday.
Bouyea, 24, impressed as a playmaker in summer league, averaging seven assists per game. He totaled 35 assists to just 10 turnovers in the five summer league games he played in this year.
But there continues to be room for improvement for Bouyea, who averaged 10.2 points while shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 3 of 11 (27.3 percent) from three-point range during summer league.
▪ Among the group of new undrafted players on the Heat’s summer league roster, forward Drew Peterson stood out behind his intriguing combination of shooting and height at 6-foot-9.
But Peterson, who went undrafted this year out of Southern Cal, struggled in the Heat’s summer league finale. He recorded four points and shot 0 of 3 from three-point range in Sunday’s win.
Prior to this quiet night, Peterson shot 8 of 14 (57.1 percent) on 4.7 three-point attempts per contest in the first three games he played in Las Vegas.
Peterson, 23, was also trusted to start for the Heat in each of the six summer league games he appeared in this year.
Peterson hopes his summer league play will be enough to produce an NBA contract. The Heat currently has two open spots on its 15-man roster and one open two-way contract slot. Miami also could try to sign Peterson to an Exhibit 10 contract — essentially an invite to training camp to compete for a roster spot — to keep him within its player development system.
▪ Another player from this year’s undrafted class who produced memorable moments for the Heat’s summer league team is guard Chase Audige out of Northwestern, who is known for his suffocating perimeter defense.
Audige finished Sunday’s win with 10 points, two assists and four steals.
But Audige’s three-point stroke continues to be a work in progress. After shooting 4 of 7 on threes in the summer league opener, the 24-year-old shot 4 of 13 (30.8 percent) from three-point range in six games during the rest of summer league.
Audige remains unsigned for next season.
▪ Guard Alondes Williams, who went undrafted last year and spent this past season with the Brooklyn Nets’ G League affiliate, finished Sunday’s summer league game with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 shooting on threes, four rebounds and four assists for the Heat.
Williams, 24, remains unsigned for next season.
▪ Jovic, 20, played in each of the Heat’s first four summer league games before missing the final three games. He closed summer league with averages of 15 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 40 percent from the field and 5 of 15 (33.3 percent) from three-point range.
Jovic was drafted by the Heat with the 27th overall pick last year out of Serbia.
▪ Jaquez, 22, was limited to just one full summer league game prior to hurting his left shoulder in the Heat’s second summer game. He recorded 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and 3-of-7 shooting from three-point range in the Heat’s summer opener on July 3 in Sacramento before leaving his second outing early with a shoulder issue and not playing again in summer league because of the injury.
The Heat selected Jaquez with the No. 18 overall pick in last month’s draft out of UCLA.
▪ The Heat closed with a 4-3 overall record in summer league and 3-2 record in Las Vegas Summer League.
This story was originally published July 16, 2023 at 9:58 PM.
