Miami ? Calmly sinking open jumpers, wrestling with Jermaine O’Neal and Yao Ming, and collecting rebounds, Heat forward Wayne Simien looks like the typical NBA veteran playing his role.
That’s what’s pretty remarkable, because Simien is a rookie, fresh out of Kansas University, but he’s ably taken on veteran responsibilities just a few games into his career.
The first impression is that Simien seems to be a ready-made NBA player, that rare commodity in a league increasingly enamored by potential. That’s why, in the preseason, coach Stan Van Gundy had trouble coming up with an area in which Simien had made a lot of improvement.
Turns out Simien didn’t need much.
“Wayne is such a solid player, and he came in as a solid player,” Van Gundy said. “Fundamentally he came in very sound. He is prepared mentally, he is a very mature guy. You don’t really feel like you are coaching a rookie. He is a very bright, solid guy.”
So when injuries thinned the Heat’s depth and Van Gundy looked at the young players on his bench Wednesday at Indiana, he went with Simien.
Simien responded with nine points, six rebounds and a steal in 17 minutes. The next night, Simien had four points in 15 minutes and did about as good a job as could be expected defending Yao, who at 7-foot-6 has at least seven inches on Simien.
Those were Simien’s first meaningful minutes of the season, against two of the league’s elite teams, yet Simien went about his business like it was routine. He didn’t hesitate to step up and take open jumpers, and didn’t back down from All-Stars O’Neal and Yao.
How does he do it?
“I think four years of experience of college at a high level (helped),” Simien said of his All-American career at Kansas.
“And then every day at practice being able to compete against some of the top players in the league definitely helps as well. The coaches have been great, not putting a lot of pressure on me or things like that.”
Injuries to forward Shandon Anderson and centers Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Doleac created the opportunity, but Simien so far is the only one to get meaningful minutes.
Simien said he heeded the coaches’ instructions to stay ready even when he wasn’t playing much in the first four games. When the injuries mounted and Van Gundy had to patch together an irregular rotation, Simien figured he might get a chance.
“It’s great to get an opportunity to be able to go out there and play some good quality minutes early on in the season, against some great teams,” Simien said.
He’s doing it well so far, yet there are reminders he’s still a rookie.
This week was the first time Simien has played back-to-back games in different cities.
That’s old hat for pros and certainly Simien knew it was coming, but the actual experience threw him off a bit.
“It’s crazy,” Simien said. “Playing, getting in at 3 a.m., and coming up and getting ready for another one. It’s definitely not what I expected, but I am adjusting well and I am excited for the rest of the season.”
