A candid Kendrick Nunn back where he started. And Steve Kerr weighs in on Heat issues
Kendrick Nunn has now gone full circle in 16 months, from a rookie revelation and immediate Heat starter — to something of an afterthought during the Heat’s NBA Finals run and again early this season — and now back to starting again.
After being held out of five of the Heat’s first 10 games — and three others in recent weeks — the second-place finisher in last season’s Rookie of the Year voting has now made five consecutive starts, and seven overall, this season, entering Wednesday night’s game at Golden State.
And he couldn’t be happier about it, especially after losing his starting job at the outset of last year’s playoffs.
How does starting help him?
“I bring energy to the game,” he said. “I like to give one of the first punches. When I’m on the court it gives us a spark offensively and defensively.”
Nunn started all 67 regular-season games last season before famously being benched to start the postseason, with Goran Dragic replacing him after Nunn dealt with the effects of contracting COVID-19 last June.
Even when Dragic was injured during the Finals, Tyler Herro — not Nunn — moved into the starting lineup.
Nunn didn’t start his first game this season until Jan. 27 but has started seven of 11 games since. The opportunity to start again was a byproduct of his improved performance off the bench, beginning in mid-January, and injuries and COVID-related absences involving other Heat wing players.
Nunn is averaging 14.1 points and shooting 33.3 percent on three-pointers (16 for 48) with 11 steals in his seven starts. Overall, he’s averaging 13.4 points in 19 appearances.
In an interview last week with CBS-4’s Jim Berry, Nunn admitted that reduced role was difficult mentally.
“It’s tough,” he said. “You have doubts about yourself. Your mind just starts racing. You have so many thoughts on why you’re not playing. But you just have to have discipline about it, mental toughness, stay locked in with the game plan, come in and act like you’ve never missed a beat.”
Nunn said not playing regular minutes “is challenging when you’re just watching from the sideline when you know you can obviously go out there and help win....You have to be a professional about it and continue to work and be ready when you’re number is called. That’s what I did.”
Nunn last week reached his 82nd NBA game (the equivalent of a normal full season) with averages of 14.9 points, 3.1 assists, 44.6 percent shooting and 84.6 percent on free throws. Per Stat Head, only four other players have achieved those numbers in their first 82 career games: Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, Kyrie Irving and Steph Curry.
Heat guards Avery Bradley (calf) and Goran Dragic (ankle) remain out; they’re not with the team on this seven-game road trip.
KERR WEIGHS IN
Warriors coach Steve Kerr weighed in on several Heat-related issues in advance of his team’s game against the Heat.
▪ On Bam Adebayo: “Bam is a tremendous player, reminds me a lot of Draymond Green because he impacts the game so much at both ends as a ball handler, passer but also as shot blocker, defender, switching onto smaller players.”
▪ On whether he can relate to Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, with both coaching teams that went to multiple consecutive NBA Finals before losing a superstar in free agency:
“We have had similar experiences. This is nothing new for him. He went to the Finals four years in a row and a couple times before that they had injuries, won 17, 18 games. If you coach in the NBA long enough you’re going to see a little bit of everything.
“And that’s what I’m experiencing now. To come into the league right away and to coach a team with the talent we had and get to the Finals that first year was really a dream. Six years later, things were a lot different, and we got wiped out by injuries and had the worst record in the league [in 2019-20]. You have to learn as an NBA coach to roll with everything and figure out your job based on that year’s circumstances.”
▪ Kerr said he keeps in touch with Heat guard Andre Iguodala, who was on the Warriors during all of their five NBA Finals appearances in the past decade, including three championships.
“Andre is one of those guys I will probably keep in touch with forever,” Kerr said. “We connect in the offseason because he’s here. We played golf before the season started, talked a lot about Miami and our team and family.
“I have a really strong bond with Andre. He is forever going to be someone I admire, not just the way he played but the way he taught the game and mentored young teammates. He was an enormous part of the championship era here and we definitely miss him.”
Warriors guard Steph Curry said playing against Iguodala “is going to be fun. I just hope he forgot all the plays. He might be too smart for that. It will be interesting seeing him in a different jersey, competing against him.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 8:56 AM.
