Miami Heat: James Ennis Will Not Be Playing In South Beach

Miami Heat draft pick James Ennis, who was a star at Long Beach State, will not be playing in South Beach this upcoming NBA season. Instead Ennis will be playing overseas in Australia with the Perth Wildcats. A lot of people were shocked by this move because they thought he had a shot to make the Heat. Ennis is a young and an athletic guard/forward that could have helped the Heat coming off the bench since we know that the Miami Heat’s bench is getting pretty old at this point.

Ennis played all four years at Long Beach State , but played extensively only during his last two years. In his junior season, Ennis averaged 10.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. But in his senior year, people started to take notice of the 6-foot-7 guard/forward. He scored 16.5 points and grabbed 6.7 rebounds per game. He definitely elevated his game, which not only helped him and his draft stock but also helped his team. Last season, Ennis and Long Beach State advanced to the first round of the NIT but would lose to Baylor 112-66. In that game Ennis only had 10 points.

With that being said, his performance at LBSU got him a chance to be drafted by the Miami Heat in the second round. Ennis would perform well in the Las Vegas Summer League with the Heat. In seven games with the Heat’s summer league team, he scored 12.7 points per game and had his best scoring game against the Phoenix Suns, in which he scored 25 points and had nine rebounds.

But as I mentioned earlier, Ennis decided to go overseas and play with the Perth Wildcats, but can you blame him? As he said, he gets to show off his talents and develop his skills over there. Another good thing about this six-figure deal is that Ennis has an opt-out clause, meaning if the Heat want to use his services, they can if needed. Ennis is doing the right thing–rather than play in the D-League make only $25,500 and being a D-League MVP candidate. He can go overseas, play tougher talent and make enough money to support his family for life.

Sometimes those decisions just have to be made. If you are the Heat, should you have tried to keep Ennis in the organization? Sure. There is a need to help this team transition to younger players because if you look at the Miami Heat’s roster most everybody is getting older. The only young players on this team are Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole and Greg Oden. Yes, I said Greg Oden, because he hasn’t played in the NBA for a while so he has fresh legs, we all hope.

For James Ennis though, good luck over in Australia with the Perth Wildcats and hopefully we see him back in the NBA playing either for the Miami Heat or for another team.