Gabe Vincent’s Value Can’t Go Understated

The Miami Heat did all they could get back on track on Monday, with the “all they could” being the operative phrase here. After a very bumpy last week of play prior to Monday night’s victory over the Sacramento Kings, the Miami Heat had not only dropped four games in a row, but looked to be in shambles as a team as things were, all but, crumbling around them.

While the totality of the scenario appears to be more deeply rooted than just basketball and is reportedly being actively handled in an effective manner by the team, there are some things that are just basketball that went into it all.

If you look at the four-game skid of last week, it occurred simultaneously as a four-game absence for one of the Miami Heat’s better reserve guards, Gabe Vincent. While you can’t say that Vincent’s presence would have turned that tide or changed any results, there may be something to it all if you think back to what you may have observed.

When you start at the top, there is immediately the Philadelphia 76ers game that saw a ton of attacking Tyler Herro late by Shake Milton and Tyrese Maxey.

The Miami Heat look to get themselves back together after a terrible last week. Gabe Vincent missed all of those games and he could have helped a ton.

Without James Harden and Joel Embiid, they went at with a penetration-based offense surrounding those two guards’ ability to get into the teeth of the defense.

When you look at the Warriors game, their whole plan of attack was dictated by Jordan Poole. Not only did he get into the middle of the defense a lot, but he then used that leverage and space to capitalize on his outside ability as well.

When you look at New York and the way the Miami Heat let the Knicks walk them down late in the game, that whole spark of a run was made possible by the combustion that one man was able to create. Yep, you guessed it, another lead guard type in Immanuel Quickley.

Though Kyrie Irving was just a small part of the bombardment that was the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, you could have always used any type of production that another guy could provide in that one. Though not as specifically as the others, the same notion applies here too.

So, again, while you can’t say Gabe Vincent would have directly prevented the skid from occurring, he could have played a major part in helping prevent some of that damage. To be quite frank, Vincent is likely one of the key guys that would have been tasked with slowing down the aforementioned guys.

These were the guys that absolutely killed Miami over the past week or so, outside of Kyrie specifically but he’s Kyrie Irving, so the same applies. On top of his renewed shooting this season, his development as a floor general, and as a playmaker for his team, these are key reasons why Gabe Vincent’s value can’t go understated.