Maten making good progress
Forward scores 16, collects 8 rebounds in win vs. Warriors
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Miami Heat goal with Yante Maten is more. More from the 3-point line. More on the defensive end. More from a playmaking standpoint.
After a season of loading up on statistics in the G League, Maten is back in the Heat’s laboratory at summer league, with the ongoing project of turning the 2018 undrafted forward out of Georgia into a closer facsimile of Paul Millsap.
That’s what made Maten’s first-half 3-pointer so encouraging in Wednesday’s 73-65 victory over a similar roster of rookies, prospects, draft picks and free agents from the Golden State Warriors at Golden1 Center, in the Heat’s final game of the California Classic.
“I’m not trying to overthink anything or make anything complicated,” he said of a second consecutive solid summer effort. “Just if I’m open shoot it; if I see I can attack, then attack or role, whatever it is.”
Maten closed with 16 points and 8 rebounds, helping lead the Heat on an afternoon when first-round pick Tyler Herro shot 2 of 11 on 3-pointers in an uneven 20-point performance that included a strong finish, as the Heat closed out the Sacramento portion of their summer schedule at 3-0.
For Herro, the No. 13 selection out of Kentucky, the opportunities going forward are practically assured.
With Maten, it’s a matter of showing there is more than a crafty low-post game, as he transitions from last season’s two-way contract that had him spending most of the year with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, to his current partially guaranteed standard NBA deal.
“Defense is always going to be his priority that we’re going to emphasize with him,” he said. “But we want to see him extend his range, the 3-pointer. We want to see him play-make. And we want to see him score when he gets the ball. It’s a combination thing.”
As for Herro, Glass said he was not surprised to see Herro step up with 13 fourth-quarter points,
“It shows that he’s got incredible grit and he’s not afraid of the moment,” he said.
He also has been a sponge.
“I’ll tell him once to get in there and go rebound, and he’s all over the ball every time,” Glass said. “I think that’s part of his game that he’s learning. And that’s a great quality to have.”
Herro said he was unconcerned about Wednesday’s uneven start.
“I knew my shot would start falling eventually,” he said. “I thought every shot was a good shot, had a chance of going in.”
The Heat also got 21 points from guard Kendrick Nunn in the victory, including a decisive late 3-pointer.
The ongoing hope is to make Nunn, who was added on the season’s final day by the Heat, into more than a streak scorer.
“If you can’t guard your position,” Glass said, “you’re not going to play for us, summer league or with the main team. So that’s the first part. And then his playmaking. Because he draws so much attention, when they get two guys on the ball he’s got to be able to make plays for his teammates. That’s the part that he’s learning. The scoring comes naturally to him.”
With Glass rotating his lineups with the schedule of three games in three days, Duncan Robinson was given Wednesday off. The Heat also were without G League journeyman Charles Cooke, who remains in the NBA concussion protocol after leaving Tuesday’s victory over the Sacramento Kings in the first quarter.
The Heat opened with a lineup of Jeremiah Martin, Kyle Alexander, Nunn, Herro and Maten
The Heat now shift to the Las Vegas summer league, to play at least five games there, starting with a Friday 5:30 p.m. Eastern game (ESPNU) against the Chinese national team.
Among those attending Wednesday’s game was Heat executive Alonzo Mourning, whose son Trey Mourning, an undrafted forward out of Georgetown, is on the summer roster.