Part 1 of a series: This is how the Heat landed Rookie of Year candidate Kendrick Nunn
Part 1 of a 3-part series
For a team to jump from mediocre to a top-six record in the league, as the Heat has done in 2019, you need a serendipitous concoction of smart decisions and good fortune.
There has certainly been a key dose of the latter, including Jimmy Butler’s desire to join the Heat even with Miami lacking any cap space (the Heat set the groundwork for that with its exemplary culture), and Dallas — in late June — bypassing a trade for Goran Dragic after the Dragic camp had been told he would probably need to be traded to accommodate the Butler transaction from a cap standpoint.
“We’re all glad that deal didn’t happen,” one Heat official conceded privately, even more so because the inability to deal Dragic led to the jettisoning of Hassan Whiteside (a player the coaching staff didn’t want) to Portland.
But there have also been plenty of savvy personnel decisions by a front office that can evaluate young talent as well as any team in the league.
In a three-part series this week, we look at what happened behind the scenes leading up to the acquisition of five young players who have made a difference this season: Bam Adebayo, Kendrick Nunn, Tyler Herro, Chris Silva and Duncan Robinson.
Those five — along with Butler, Dragic and few others — have catapulted the franchise back to relevance.
We begin today with the background on the Nunn signing:
The Heat studied him when he played at Oakland University, but he became a strong consideration in July 2018, when team officials were impressed by the diversity of his offensive game — and all-around skill set — while watching Nunn play for Golden State against Sacramento during NBA summer league.
Nunn had already committed to the Warriors’ summer program by that point, and the Heat didn’t have a roster spot anyway, but from that point on, the Heat’s scouting staff decided to monitor him in the G-League, where he would average 19.3 points for Santa Cruz. What particularly stuck was the ease to his offensive game, the ability to score in multiple ways, and his willingness to defend.
Heat vice president/basketball operations Adam Simon and general manager Andy Elisburg discussed Nunn multiple times last season. And though there was temptation to make a move earlier, both also knew patience was needed because Miami didn’t have a roster spot and was trying to fall below the luxury tax threshold.
That changed when Rodney McGruder was released four days before the season ended, and Miami pounced, knowing that signing Nunn on the final day of the regular season not only would commit him to the Heat’s summer program and training camp but also give him full Bird rights when his two-year-plus-one-day contract ended.
The upshot of that is only $2.1 million or $4.7 million of whatever he’s paid as a free agent in 2021 will count against Miami’s cap. (Which of those two numbers is used will depend on whether Nunn meets starter’s criteria, as I explained in this November piece).
The Heat believes two fortuitous things happened that helped them land Nunn:
1) Golden State needed another big man for its playoff run, and by signing Andrew Bogut in March, that largely eliminated the possibility of the Warriors having the roster space to sign Nunn. Warriors coach Steve Kerr told Heat broadcasters last week that he didn’t pay a ton of attention to Nunn in training camp because their roster was full.
2) Because Nunn inexplicably was a backup all season in Santa Cruz, the Heat believes that kept him under the radar, and out of mind of some scouts, allowing the Heat to swoop in. Nunn said he wanted to show NBA people that he was willing to come off the bench.
Two teams (Miami and another that was never revealed publicly) wanted Nunn to sign on the final day of the season, but Nunn chose Miami largely because of the Heat’s success developing young players.
“When you’re playing in the G-League, you are going to take whatever team is going to come get you,” Nunn said.
He also considered delaying a decision on any team until after summer league, but ultimately opted for the security of a partially guaranteed contract with a team known for player development.
Still, the Heat never thought it was getting a ready-made NBA starter, at least not yet. That happened because Nunn kept impressing everyone all summer and because Dion Waiters wasn’t comporting himself as the Heat wanted (or meeting the team’s conditioning standards).
Erik Spoelstra considered starting him during camp, then committed to the move after his 40-point eruption in the preseason finale against Houston.
Not only is Nunn averaging the third-most points among rookies behind Memphis’ Ja Morant and Golden State’s Erik Paschall, but he’s second in the NBA in points per game among undrafted players, behind only Toronto’s Fred Van Vleet.
His 16.1 scoring average is tied with Philadelphia and ex-Heat swingman Josh Richardson for 15th among NBA shooting guards. And his shooting percentage (46.4) ranks eighth among all shooting guards.
“He impressed me with his maturity, his seriousness and approach to getting better,” Spoelstra said. “Week after week, he worked to get in world-class shape for summer league and then played stellar basketball, winning basketball during summer league, being a go-to player for our team. I thought he could have been MVP of (Las) Vegas.”
Nunn told the sports web site Stadium: “I definitely feel like I’m rookie of the year. Sometimes guys will take nights off. I’m taking their lunch that day.”
Coming Tuesday: The backstory on the Heat drafting Tyler Herro and signing Duncan Robinson.
Here’s my Monday piece with Dolphins notes, including Eric Rowe’s contract extension.
Here’s my Monday piece (for subscribers only) with details on UM’s 21 nonbinding commitments and remaining targets.
This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 7:31 PM.
