South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Preserving chemistry
Heat don’t want this throwback season to ‘wash away’
MIAMI — Kendrick Nunn doesn’t want to think of this as having been a potential road to nowhere.
So while others debate the merits of salvaging this season versus moving on to the next, the Miami Heat rookie guard desperately is seeking closure.
“Man, it would be very disappointing,” he told the Sun Sentinel of the potential for no playoffs, “just because it’ll all wash away, it wasn’t worth anything if you didn’t get a chance to win a title or a championship or anything like that.”
While the same could be said of any other rendition, the 2019-20 Heat is one of those rare incarnations of chemistry coalescing on an intimate level, unlike few others over the franchise’s 32 seasons.
It is the postgame back-and-forth two lockers down between Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic.
The across-the-room banter of Bam Adebayo and Derrick Jones Jr.
The friendship of the quiet rookie (Nunn) and the swaggy rookie (Tyler Herro).
The wonder of Duncan Robinson and the gusto of Meyers Leonard.
The glad-to-be-here of Andre Iguodala, Jae Crowder and Solomon Hill, as compared to the neverfully-fit of now-departed Dion Waiters, James Johnson and Hassan Whiteside.
And the ready-when-needed but never-grousing-when-not presence of Kelly Olynyk, Chris Silva and Udonis Haslem.
It is somewhat similar to the franchise’s fourth year, in 1991-92, when, after experiencing three woeful expansion seasons, the locker room of Kevin Edwards, Rony Seikaly, Jon Sundvold and Grant Long finally realized the franchise’s first playoff berth.
But, mostly, it is an atmosphere that resembles the joy of the 2003-04 Heat, a team coming off a lottery season that coalesced with a similar mix of young and old all the way to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
That roster featured first-year Dwyane Wade and Haslem, as well as second-year Caron Butler (compared, to, say, first-year Herro and Nunn, and third-year Adebayo); an equation-altering free-agent newcomer in Lamar Odom (the parallel to Butler); a stabilizing core of veterans in Eddie Jones and Brian Grant (your
Dragic and Iguodala, if you will); as well
as journeymen trying to make an imprint, in Rafer Alston, Rasual Butler and Malik Allen (corresponding, say, to Leonard, Jones and Crowder).
“We do see a lot of comparisons from that team to this team this year,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said during his recent appearance on Sirius/XM Radio, “from the standpoint of you had either some young, talented players that were not necessarily the No. 1 pick or even targeted as the next star; you had some, quote, unquote, castoff veteran guys that were maybe cast off in other places; and a bunch of unknowns, undrafted guys with big chips on their shoulder.”
Spoelstra was an assistant to Stan Van Gundy on that staff, part of the 25-season Heat stewardship of Pat Riley.
“Chemistry is a hard thing to put an analytic to,” Spoelstra continued. “How do you predict it? How do you put together a team that has it? How do you cultivate it? We’ve tried for 25 years and not all the teams that have had that kind of chemistry. But there are some teams that just have that
‘innate’ in there, where they really enjoy each other’s success and enjoy it when somebody else is playing well, and try to help facilitate somebody else playing well.
“And that’s what both those teams had or have. Our team this year has that. The guys really enjoy each other. It’s not just about on the road going out to dinner or like being around each other. No, it’s deeper than that. They really enjoy seeing somebody else play well. And whether they’re a part of it or not, they want to see each person have their moments. And that’s special.”
It is why Nunn so desperately wants to see where this leads.
As does Spoelstra.
“That’s why we all get into team sports,” he said, “is when you have that kind of chemistry.”