Summer League Buzz: Scheyer Comes Up Clutch for Heat

Lebron James' move to South Beach has placed the Miami Heat at the center of a media frenzy in recent days. James and his new teammates Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh are the talk of the basketball world as the union of the three superstars transformed the Heat into a title contender overnight.

But another equally compelling, although much less publicized, storyline lies behind the fanfare of the Heat's new Big Three at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

The players on Miami's summer squad are fighting for the roster spots made available when team president Pat Riley cleaned house in order to make way for James, Bosh and Wade.

As reported last week on the blog, one of those hopefuls happens to be former Blue Devil Jon Scheyer--fresh off Duke's run to the National Championship.

 Scheyer, who went undrafted, latched onto the Heat's 19-player summer camp roster and made his competitive debut last night against the New Orleans Hornets.

The second team All-American put up a modest line of 11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in 29 minutes of play. He went 2-of-6 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. While his four giveaways were out of character--he boasted one of the nation's best assist-to-turnover ratios in his senior season--Scheyer displayed the timely shooting and late-game poise that made his tenure at Duke so remarkable.

With 42 seconds remaining and the Heat down by one point, Scheyer caught the ball near the top of the 3-point arc and drained the wide-open look. His only long ball of the night, and two more free throws down the stretch, iced the game for Miami. (See video of the shot here).

Duke fans should be reminded to take all summer league performances with a grain of salt. With the exception of highly touted draft picks and a few diamonds in the rough, the talent in Las Vegas is far from top-tier. Most of the players on the floor won't receive a contract when all is said and done.

Given the Heat's unique personnel situation, however, Scheyer seems to have a legitimate chance of making the team's final roster.

Before James, Wade and Bosh signed their six-year deals Friday night, Miami had only a single player under contract: starting point guard Mario Chalmers. NBA teams normally carry 12 active players, so surely there would be room for Scheyer in the bevy of roster openings. 

Since the weekend, however, some of those vacancies have disappeared. Free agent power forward Udonis Haslem resigned with the Heat today and will serve as an enforcer for the new All-Star trio. Shooting guard Mike Miller also announced his intention to join the team today and gives the Heat the 3-point shooting touch they coveted.

Assuming that the Heat also sign their three second-round draft picks--Dexter Pittman of Texas, Da'Sean Butler of West Virginia and Jarvis Varnado of Miss St.--there will be three roster spots left for the summer league players, and possibly other free agents still on the market, to fill.

Nonetheless, Scheyer apparently has an early vote of confidence from head coach Erik Spoelstra.

"We wanted [Scheyer] because we thought he'd be a guy that would stretch the floor," Spoelstra told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

"A lot of what we do offensively is predicated on spacing and 3-point shooting really helps. He's been a pleasant surprise with other aspects of his game. He has an extremely high basketball IQ. He does a better job of putting the ball on the floor, making plays, than I anticipated."

Over the course of Miami's four remaining summer league games, Scheyer will battle with Patrick Beverly (the Heat's 2009 2nd-round pick) and Kenny Hasbrouck (undrafted in '09 but signed a 10-day contract with the Heat in March) for the right to back up Chalmers at point guard.

Injuries bothered Beverly during the pre-Las Vegas summer camp, and Scheyer played almost eight more minutes than the former Arkansas standout in the opener even though Beverly got the start.

Hasbrouck, on the other hand, led the Heat's offensive attack last night. The Developmental League call-up scored a team-high 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting. He looks to be Scheyer's primary competition as the summer league progresses. But with James, Wade and Bosh in the fold, Miami doesn't need high-volume scoring from the point guard position.

As long as Scheyer keeps hitting big shots when it matters most, the coaching staff will no doubt view him as a valuable asset. And Crazies will be happy to know that Spoelstra is committed to evaluating the unheralded talent on his summer squad.

"[We want] to look at some of these free agents who have been on our board, undrafted guys a lot of times," Spoelstra said in Las Vegas. "Maybe we can uncover another Udonis Haslem or Joel Anthony, guys who have come through our system during the summer and not only earned spots on our team but made our rotation."