Playing in the NBA, what is most important?
For other teams, talent may be the most important, but for the Miami Heat, at least in the era of Riley and Spoolstra, hard work is the first, even if James leaves the team, Bosh and Wade have retired, they also refuse to use the bad way to fight for high signings, but in another way to rebuild, that is, to continue to select and cultivate talent in the lost draft.
No way, the Heat have a set of strict training plans and regulations, 3-4 times a day of high-intensity training, has made many players eat, especially those high-ranking rookies, they always think that they are talented enough, do not need to train so hard, again and again violate the Heat team rules, in contrast, those low-ranking origins, or lost drafts, but more cherish the opportunity to play in the league, never complain, hard work.
Instead of getting some geniuses like Michael Beasley and Dion Wittes, it is better to cast a wide net to promote some failed drafts, and the results now show that the path they have taken is not unworkable.
In the 2020 playoffs, the unpromising Heat reached the finals all the way, and the main player Barrett naturally contributed, but around him, a group of grassroots members composed of failed drafts also played a very key role.
For example, Kendrick Nunn, the 18th draft, can average 15 points of fire support for the Heat per game, and the three-point shooting rate is as high as 38%;
There is also Duncan Robinson, who has almost no athletic talent, has no hope of playing the NBA, and on the day of the defeat, he threw a resume to a media, ready to be an intern, and he did not know where the Heat found this piece of jade, in the second year of his career, Dunroe became the league's top shooter, shooting 243 three-pointers with a 44.8% shooting rate.
This season, the Heat still adhere to this strategy, successively turning a number of lost drafts, the team's 17-man roster, the only lost draft accounted for 8, to be honest, thanks to this gang, otherwise, they may have fallen out of the top eight in the East.
Last month, the Heat suffered injuries, first big Morris, then Butler, followed by Adebayor also hung up the free card, unlike in the past, now the competition in the East is very fierce, in addition to the Magic and pistons, the other 13 teams, have the strength to impact the playoffs, in this case of injury shortage, it is very likely to fall behind, but fortunately the Heat are well stocked, and they can immediately find a replacement, such as the two lost drafts Max Strus and Gable Vincent.
In December, they were brilliant, helping the Heat win seven of their last 10 games.
First of all, Strus, he was the 19th draft, and the year of the defeat suffered such a major injury as the cruciate ligament, a full year of suspension, only to be brought back to the NBA by the Heat, with hard training, Strus quickly impressed Spotra, and obtained a rotation, the past twenty days, he is even more promoted to the main rotation, playing more than 30 minutes in a row, scoring a new high, the last 4 games, he can average 24 points per game, a total of 45 shots outside the three-point line 21.
Speaking of Vincent, he is the 18th draft, previously, has played for the Heat for 2 seasons, but the performance is not ideal, but even so, the Heat still gave him a formal contract, fortunately, this trust finally paid off, into December, Vincent played more time, the performance is more stable, the past 4 games, he averaged 15.7 points per game, accumulated 9 three-pointers, and Strus and called the "lost version of the Splash Brothers".
In addition, Omer Jurtseven, the 20th draft winner from Turkey, is also a player who has performed well recently, and has rebounded in double figures for 4 consecutive games.
As of now, the Heat's group of draft draft players, who can provide 35 points of fire support for the team per game, is a very important force.
Talent is important, but hard work is the key to ensuring the lower limit, these lost drafts have no fame, no talent, and no potential, but under the tuning of the Heat, they are fierce characters who can fight hard battles, compare their annual salary of more than one million, and then look at the performance on the field, it is really not losing some teams worth tens of millions of championship puzzles, which is why the Heat have always been able to maintain competitiveness in the past few years.