The NBA was holding its annual Las Vegas showcase for G League players two Decembers ago when Tyrone Ellis, the coach of the Stockton Kings, inexplicably benched guard Gabe Vincent for a game even though he ranked among the league’s leading three-point shooters.
After that game, most of the NBA scouts and personnel executives filed out of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. But that’s not how the Miami Heat’s staff operates.
Heat assistant general manager Adam Simon stuck around for the second Stockton game that day, and Vincent not only played, but flourished, scoring 23 points in 14 first-half minutes en route to a 35-point night.
His agent, Bill Neff, spoke to Simon about Vincent that day and the seeds were planted for the young guard to become one of the Heat’s latest development success stories.
Two weeks later, the Heat signed Vincent to a two-way contract.
Nearly 11 months later, Miami signed Max Strus to a two-way deal, impressed by his work in training camp last December and intrigued by what they saw in just 13 G-League games for the Windy City Bulls (18.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists) before a torn ACL sidelined him much of 2020.
Then, in April, the Heat signed Omer Yurtseven, tantalized by what they saw in 14 G-League games for the Oklahoma City Blue (15.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, 38.1 percent on threes).
All three players were signed to two-year deals this past summer.
The Heat’s knack for developing overlooked gems, cultivated over Pat Riley’s 26 years with the franchise, is a two-pronged process: identifying the players and then investing countless hours to develop every aspect of their game.
Both parts require laborious, thankless work — sweat equity, as Erik Spoelstra calls it — from Simon staying inside a Las Vegas hotel to watch a second Stockton Kings game, to assistant coaches Chris Quinn, Malik Allen, Anthony Carter, Eric Glass and Octavio De La Grana scurrying to AmericanAirlines Arena at all hours to help develop and maximize every prospects’ skills and extract every ounce of their ability.
Over the years, nobody has been more significant in eyeballing overlooked talent than longtime Heat personnel man Chet Kammerer; ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy has said his “ability to identify undrafted guys and second-round guys is one of the NBA’s great stories that is never talked about because Chet has zero” ego.
“They are the Harvard Business School of Development,” Neff said last week. “Some teams look for the G league for replacement players. Miami looks for opportunities.”
When the Heat opted this past summer to sign re-sign Vincent and Strus to standard contracts — as essentially their 9th and 10th men— some might have wondered why Miami didn’t opt for more experienced players than two undrafted 25-year-olds with light NBA resumes.
The decisions have been thoroughly justified, as has the decision to invest in Yurtseven, whose 14.4 rebounds per 36 minutes are eighth-highest in the league, ahead of DeAndre Ayton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jusuf Nurkic and many others.
Vincent, already a defensive pest, has improved his scoring average from 4.8 last season to 8.6 this season and his three point shooting from 30.9 to 37.1, while seeing his minutes average increase from 13.1 to 21.4.
He was so confident that when Vincent had an early-season encounter with Riley, Vincent apparently told him not to go add a backup point guard.
Strus, meanwhile, has boosted his scoring from 6.1 last season to 11.0 this season and three-point shooting from 33.8 and 40.4 percent, while his minutes have jumped from 13.0 per game to 23.1.
Neff recalls sitting next to Simon that December day in 2019 when Vincent erupted during the second game of that Las Vegas double-header. Each team plays two games in that tournament, allowing each G-League player to get more than one chance to impress teams.
“Gabe was benched in the first game and all these teams leave, but the Heat stayed for the second game and saw what Gabe could do,” Neff said, noting Miami was the only team he saw in the crowd for Game 2 that day.
“They are ahead of people in developing their own players but also in scouting others to bring into their system.”
Days before Vincent’s career-high 26-point game against Philadelphia earlier this month, I asked P.J. Tucker which player he had gained an extra appreciation for since joining the Heat.
“I would say Gabe Vincent,” Tucker said. “I love Gabe. I love the way he plays, aggressive, plays hard, confident. You don’t get a whole lot of guys like that who don’t play a whole lot, but when they get in the game, right away they make their presence felt on defense.”
The defensive verve has endeared him to Heat coaches. Consider that players guarded by Vincent this season are shooting 43.3 percent, best defensively among Miami’s guards.
Vincent’s three-point shooting, a strength at UC Santa Barbara and the G-League (where he had 88 threes in 20 games), has once again become an asset, in large part because he convinced the Heat on Nov. 18 to allow him to stop wearing a knee brace (which he used for a year after November 2020 surgery) and in part because he has adjusted to changes the Heat made to his shooting mechanics after he joined the team.
Since removing the brace, Vincent is shooting 44 for 112 on threes (39.2 percent).
“He learned to be a great defender and now he’s shooting almost as well as before [in the G-League],” Neff said. “He’s a point guard who can really guard and has dynamite factor in him, the ability to score 18 points in a quarter.
“And [Erik Spoelstra] will play guys. So many teams play you based on a pecking order or a draft pick. The Heat doesn’t don’t.”
Strus, meantime, has become a revelation, a player who is averaging more points per 36 minutes (17.1) than All-Stars Chris Paul and Nik Vucevic and accomplished scorers Tim Hardaway Jr., Danilo Gallinari and Terrence Ross.
And here’s the biggest sign that he has “made it”:
Strus said he has noticed that opponents are “making a point that I’m in the game. The opposing coach is saying ‘Strus! Shooter! Shooter!’ They’re starting to know who I am. It’s nice to hear.”
Was there ever a time last year that the opposing coach shouted his name? “No, not much. It happens almost every game now.”
The Heat was convinced he was a better three-point shooter than he showed last year. He said he took at least 100 three-pointers a day during the summer.
Even on off days this season, “I’m in the gym all the time,” he said. “You’ve got to stay on top of it. Shooting is more mental than anything. It’s the constant reps of making sure everything feels the same and shooting the same shot every time. I’m more of an early morning guy. I’m usually a before-practice guy. Like to get here really early.”
One player that Strus has studied: Brooklyn Nets wing Joe Harris.
“We have a lot in common,” Strus said. “I’ve been able to talk to him a bunch too, so that’s been good.”
He also has studied tape of Warriors All-Star guard Klay Thompson. “And just being here, you get to watch Duncan [Robinson] every day so there a lot of things you can learn from him.”
One key to his success, in his view: “I’m getting more reps, getting more comfortable playing and knowing where my shots are going to come from. I’ve got a more consistent role. That helps. You’re going to get in almost every night. Having the ability to get more comfortable, get more minutes makes you that much more comfortable being ready for those situations.”
He continues to get feedback from Heat shooting consultant Rob Fodor, who is working remotely from California this season and was instrumental in the development of Robinson and others.
“I talk to Rob all the time,” Strus said. “We text a lot. He’s always in my ear about little things. We’ve Zoomed a couple times this year. He’s always there for me and a great mentor to have.”
Last summer, Vincent and Strus both agreed to sign two-year deals at the Heat’s request, meaning they will be under contract at a reasonable $1.8 million next season. Yurtseven also agreed to a two-year deal and is due $1.75 million next season.
“When one team calls and it’s the Heat, you don’t have a lot of leverage,” Neff said, noting that the two-year deal will allow Vincent to be an unrestricted free agent in July 2023 as opposed to a restricted free agent in July 2022.
And, as Neff added, “this, of course, does not preclude him from signing back with his favorite team.”
Because of their development program, “they can miss three or four [key] players and they haven’t missed a beat,” Neff said. “They’re the gold standard of player development. Maybe the best thing is that Marcus Garrett can see that the system is working right before his eyes with Max and Gabe.”
One key comment from my August piece on the Heat signing Yurtseven:
“After I made 300 phone calls on behalf of Omer, they were the only ones that stepped up to the plate and there’s a value to that,” his agent, Keith Glass, told me. “We do feel a certain appreciation toward the Heat and on a practical level, we’ve seen what they’ve been able to do [developing young players]. He’s unique in that he’s 7 feet and has a skill set that’s not normal.”
With Bam Adebayo and now Dwayne Dedmon sidelined, Yurtseven has begun to emerge and had 16 points and 15 rebounds against Orlando on Sunday.
“Yurtseven is a very talented offensive player,” ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy said. “Has tremendous hands, nice soft touch.”
And his rebounds-per-36-minutes stands as the highest by a Heat player since Hassan Whiteside led the league in that category in 2018-19, at 17.6. Credit Allen and Udonis Haslem for helping improve his rebound skills, especially in traffic.
