Miami Heat: The incredible rise of Rodney McGruder

While the early season form of the Miami Heat has been highly frustrating, a huge positive has been the inspired play of swingman Rodney McGruder.

The recent emergence of Miami Heat swingman Rodney McGruder is in fact 12 months in the making.

Entering the 2017-18 season, McGruder started in the opening five preseason games at the small forward spot, even relegating Josh Richardson to the second unit during this span. Unfortunately, on the eve of the regular season, McGruder was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower left leg, which required surgery.

The result was that McGruder was sidelined until the end of February and wound up playing in just 18 regular season games for the season, with his impact upon return naturally limited due to the extended layoff he had undertaken.

Even at the time of his setback, team president Pat Riley foresaw a bright future for McGruder with the Heat:

"“You root for players all the time and guys like Rodney, you have to root for them because of the kind of person he is, the kind of player, his effort, all-in, how coachable he is.”"

Undrafted coming out of Kansas State, McGruder spent a season in Hungary before returning to play in the G League and eventually joining the Heat’s affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Despite being 27, McGruder has now played just 99 career games, but his impact in the opening three games this season has been profound.

Prior to this season, McGruder was used predominately as defensive specialist with an increasing ability to nail spot-up jump shots. However, the transformation in his game to commence the 2018-19 campaign has been incredible.

An interesting exercise is to compare McGruder’s performance this season to the 2016-17 season, when he played 78 games and averaged 25.2 minutes per game.

Touches per game:

• 2016-17: 26.6
• 2018-19: 57.0

Drives per game:

• 2016-17: 2.9
• 2018-19: 7.0

Rebounds per 36 minutes:

• 2016-17: 4.7
• 2018-19: 7.1

Assist percentage per 36 minutes:

• 2016-17: 8.8
• 2018-19: 15.1

True shooting percentage:

• 2016-17: 50.6
• 2018-19: 66.2

Such is the admiration for McGruder, that following the Heat’s heartbreaking 113-112 home loss to the Charlotte Hornets, head coach Erik Spoelstra took the unusual step of apologizing to his player at his postgame press conference after McGruder was forced to defend All-Star Kemba Walker in an isolation situation.

The result was McGruder fouling Walker on his foray to the hoop with just 0.5 seconds remaining. Spoelstra added the following about his emerging swingman:

"“He always has been a winner. Now he’s becoming a very good skilled basketball player and he can hurt you in a lot of different ways, and he did that tonight. He was tracking down rebounds, tracking down loose balls, hitting big threes, making plays off the dribble. He’s improved in all of those areas, and he’ll continue to improve. He’ll look much different three or four months from now.”"

With the Heat missing Dion Waiters and Justise Winslow on the perimeter, in addition to regular starter James Johnson, it’s unclear moving forward just how prominent McGruder’s role will be once this trio returns to full-time action.

However, in the meantime, the Heat coaching staff and players alike will be hoping to witness more of the same from their unheralded swingman.