Heat’s development of undrafted players has turned into unique advantage

NBA

By Brian Lewis

May 9, 2023 | 1:59am

MIAMI — For most teams, undrafted players are either the tail end of the roster or not on the roster at all.

For Miami, they’re a key to victory, proof that ‘Heat Culture’ isn’t just empty words but a way of life for this franchise.

All those overlooked and underrated prospects and projects may not have been drafted, but the Heat develop them.

And they get wins, like Monday’s 109-101 second-round Game 4 victory over the Knicks.

Miami has the highest percentage of both points scored and minutes logged by undrafted players among all the playoff teams.

Their seven undrafted players are the most of any team in the playoffs.

And they just count themselves as players — drop the undrafted part — but still have that chip on their collective shoulders.

“[I’m not offended by the questions], not really anymore. I’m kind of past those days,” Max Strus said. “But obviously, we always carry that chip on our shoulder. It’s going to carry us for the rest of our career. But I hope that the way we’ve been playing, we just keep making people believe that we belong here.”

Strus had 16 points Monday — third on the team behind Butler and Adebayo — while Caleb Martin added 10 and Gabe Vincent provided solid defense.

“Part of it is just because you’re undrafted doesn’t mean you’re a bad basketball player,” Strus said. “But we’re talented, and we come in here and we work and we grind.

“And the organization, the coaching staff puts in the time as well with us — and they believe in us. When somebody believes in you, it’s hard not to believe in yourself. So you just want to go out there and keep proving yourself, proving your worth in this league and keep doing the right things that help winning.”

Almost half of Miami’s regular-season minutes — 46 percent — came from undrafted players, the fourth-highest percentage since the NBA-ABA merger.

They got a combined 74 points from undrafted players in Game 2, the most by undrafted players in any playoff game in the modern draft era (since 1966).

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Martin led the way with 22 points that night, with Vincent just a point behind.

On Monday, it was at the other end where Vincent excelled, a one-man press.

He picked up Jalen Brunson full-court, tried to deny him in the half-court.

And Martin added 10 points and a monster fourth-quarter dunk.

“Being an undrafted guy myself, one thing we all look for his opportunity,” Vincent said. “So you need someone to be able to take a chance on you; so I’d say that’s the first step whether you get here and play or not. And then there’s an intense player development program, where there’s an investment on their side. … It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of time and effort, sweat and blood. So it pays off, and opportunity follows.”

Venerable Udonis Haslem, Duncan Robinson, Haywood Highsmith and Omer Yurtseven are the other undrafted players, a group that reminded the Knicks how much of a game-changer they can be.

Strus led the way.

“He’s a player, so it’s not just about the spacing of the floor,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We do him run off handoffs and back actions and get him on the move, but he’s also a guy that can put the ball on the floor. He’s fearless getting to the basket, but he else can make some plays for other guys. And he was good in a lot of different facets.”