When it comes to versatility: McGruder
Defensive skills, ability to complement ball-dominant players have made wing a fixture in starting lineup
MILWAUKEE With the Miami Heat’s ever-changing lineups and rotations, and players coming in and out of availability this season, Rodney McGruder has been a rock, steadily starting at the wing.
McGruder is tied for the team lead in games started with fellow guard/forward and leading scorer Josh Richardson, starting 41 of the team’s 42 games as the Heat sit at 21-21 after Tuesday night’s demoralizing 38-point loss in Milwaukee to the Bucks before they face the Pistons in Detroit on Friday night.
McGruder’s defensive prowess and ability to complement more ball-dominant players offensively have made him a fit in Miami’s first unit.
“Rodney always gives us the element of toughness, intangibles and then playing without the ball,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “There are a lot of guys that become more live when the ball’s in their hands. You need guys that play without the ball for those guys to be effective, and Rodney’s one of those guys.
“With [guard Wayne Ellington] not playing right now, he does it in a totally different way — like the majority of his offensive game is movement and cuts and accepting screens when the ball’s not in his hands. That’s important for this team.”
McGruder is averaging 9.6 points, four rebounds and 2.2 assists this season. With the Heat’s depth and Spoelstra’s lineup decisions, which have caused frustration for others as seen with Dion Waiters’ explosive comments after the game in Milwaukee about his lack of playing time since his return, McGruder is fourth on the team playing 27.8 minutes per game.
“I know they have trust in me,” McGruder said. “We all, that whole unit, very tough, hard-nosed defensive group, and I think that’s what we all bring to the table stepping in.”
McGruder attributes his willingness to compete on defense to what he learned before his three NBA seasons or time in the G League.
“College. Much of my career as a player, but really college,” said McGruder, who was coached by Miami native Frank Martin at Kansas State. “My college coaches really were heavy on defense and that side of the floor. Just competing on the defensive end. … That’s what [Martin] preaches.”
On a night where there weren’t many positives against the Bucks, the starting five nonetheless held its own. The Heat had a first-quarter lead before Milwaukee made its initial push to close the period. The start of the second half, with the starting five back on the floor, was the only other time Miami showed life the rest of the way.
“The first quarter, we were doing well, and then we made subs and they went on a run,” center Hassan Whiteside said. “It kind of went downhill. They started hitting shots. After a couple of substitutions, they got hot.”
In a game where every Heat player had a negative plus-minus, starters McGruder, Whiteside and James Johnson were the only three to have a plus-minus in the singledigit negatives — minus-4, minus-6 and minus-1, respectively — aside from Ellington who played the final 7:42 with the outcome in hand for the Bucks.
Missing much of last year following preseason surgery on his left tibia and returning to play just 18 games, starting two, McGruder can easily be forgotten for his role on the 2016-17 Heat where he started in 65 of his 78 games. He started every game of the second half that year, when Miami went on a 30-11 run to rebound from an 11-30 start but still finish a tiebreaker to the Chicago Bulls short of the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot.
McGruder kept a starting streak going much of the early going this season. When he left a Dec. 2 home win against the Utah Jazz with a right ankle sprain, he was right back out there two nights later against the Orlando Magic.
The only game he missed came on Dec. 23 in Orlando when he was a late scratch with a stomach illness.