Miami Heat Continue Surprising Playoff Run Behind Play Of Undrafted Players

The Miami Heat are officially one win away from the NBA Finals.

The eighth-seeded Heat dismantled the second-seeded Boston Celtics, 109-83, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. It was a game that was largely over by halftime, with Miami holding a 15-point lead before stretching it out to a 30-point lead by the end of the third quarter.

And while Jimmy Butler has certainly been the biggest reason for the Heat’s cinderella run, it’s the role players — particularly the undrafted core four — that have ultimately been the X-factor for a Miami squad that suddenly has title aspirations.

Those former undrafted free agents are none other than Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, Max Strus and Duncan Robinson. In the perfect game that epitomizes “Heat Culture,” Vincent, Martin and Robinson all scored at least 18-plus points to pace Miami, all more than Butler.

Vincent — not Butler — was the player of the game, scoring a career-high 29 points on 6-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Robinson chimed in with 22 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range while Martin contributed 18 points on 4-of-7 shooting from distance.

Head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke of Vincent’s importance following the game.

“We need his assertiveness. We need his aggressiveness,” Spoelstra said. “We need his putting his eyes on the rim and making the right play and everybody wants him to do that.”

“Gabe’s been Mr. Reliable,” center Bam Adebayo said following his career performance. “And it’s not just scoring.”

In fact, the Heat’s unheralded four converted 18 of their 19 treys in the win over the Celtics.

“They’re playing well above their means,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown said of the Heat’s role players. “They ballin’ right now, and I gotta give them respect … Guys that we should be able to keep under control are playing their a— off.”

While Butler has certainly been the MVP of this team — and arguably the postseason itself — it’s the role players who have played a major role in this Miami squad making a deep postseason run. It wasn’t too long ago that two of the Heat’s biggest role players — Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo — were injured in the first round and basically ruled out for the remainder of the postseason.

What should have been a death knell for this Heat squad has instead become an afterthought as Butler and the former undrafted free agents are one game away from leading this squad to the Finals.

Martin spoke of why the Heat’s quartet of undrafted players are so confident shooting the basketball while playing alongside two star players in Butler and Adebayo.

“That just shows the belief they have in us,” said Martin. “A lot of it (our confidence) stems in those two (Butler and Adebayo) believing in us, getting us open looks and believing that we’ll knock them down, whether we make or miss. It’s hard not gain confidence, gain rhythm and make shots for those guys.”

Miami currently features nine undrafted players on its roster, with seven of them on the starting roster. While the Heat obviously feature a formidable leading duo in All-Stars Butler and Bam Adebayo, it isn’t a far-fetched idea to say that if Miami wins the 2023 NBA Finals, they could have an argument as the most unheralded roster of any champion in NBA history.

“I think organizations are doing a better job of doing their homework and not just assuming, because a guy didn’t get drafted, that he can’t help you win,” Udonis Haslem said of the increase in undrafted players, via Scott Cacciola of The New York Times
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. “You can’t measure character or discipline or accountability at the draft combine, and a lot of those things sometimes get overlooked.”

With the exception of Robinson and his $16.9 million salary, the Heat’s three other undrafted players earn a combined total of $10.1 million. To put that into perspective, those three players — Vincent, Martin and Strus — earn an average of $3.4 million.

Those three players combined for a total of 57 points. By comparison, the Celtics’ All-Star duo featuring Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — who earn a combined total of $59 million this season — combined for just 26 total points.

While the Heat still have five more wins to go before they can call themselves NBA champions, they can not only make history as the first eighth seed to ever win the championship, they can also do so as the most unheralded title team ever.