The Miami Heat acquired 30-year-old sharpshooter Simone Fontecchio from the Detroit Pistons last offseason. (Mandatory Credit: Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Simone Fontecchio’s start to his Miami Heat career couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.
Acquired in the Duncan Robinson sign-and-trade with the Detroit Pistons this offseason, the 30-year-old wing averaged 11.5 points on 50.0 percent shooting from beyond the arc (5.3 3PA) over his first 14 games.
He’s since returned to earth, averaging 9.8 points on 41/37/82.1 shooting splits through 24 games. He’s also playing for a new contract, currently on an $8.1 million year expiring this year and is expected to enter free agency for the second time in his career this summer. Does that make him the team’s most likely player to be moved?! According to Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes, it does.
“Unless you think the Miami Heat are willing to deal Andrew Wiggins, who’s started every game he’s played while consistently defending the top opposing wing and shooting a career-high 48.3 percent from the field, Simone Fontecchio is their only expendable mid-tier salary,” Hughes wrote.
“The Italian forward is shooting 37.9 percent from deep and looks eminently comfortable in Miami’s dynamic, screen-free offensive flow. His expiring $8.1 million salary is easy to move, though, particularly if teams believe he will continue to stripe it from deep.
“Wiggins would almost have to be included in a larger deal for salary-matching purposes, but Fontecchio is less instrumental to Miami’s success and therefore more likely to move.”
There are two sides to the coin regarding Simone Fontecchio’s future with Heat:
(Mandatory Credit: Brandon Dill/AP Photo)
On one hand, you could make the case that Fontecchio’s one of the Heat’s most important reserves because of his 3-point speciality.
The fourth-year wing struggled last year in Detroit. He shot just 33.5 percent from 3-point range and his opportunity was cut nearly in half, averaging just 16.5 minutes per game compared to 30.5 in a small 16-game sample the season prior, albeit under different coaching staffs. The emergence of Malik Beasley — while also dealing with a hand injury — factored into that.
Now, he’s one of the Heat’s best pure volume shooters not named Tyler Herro or Norman Powell. They lit the NBA on fire in Herro’s 17-game absence because of their ability to generate paint touches and utilize open space.
Well, defenses have since adjusted — and Miami’s offense has slowed down while its 3-point shooting’s returned to Earth. If Powell, Fontecchio or Herro aren’t making shots from distance, you’re relying on either Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo, Kel’el Ware or Davion Mitchell to beat you — and none of them are high-volume 3-point threats. The Jenga puzzle collapses.
On the other hand, expiring contracts are valuable; $8.1 million expirings are even more valuable, especially for a player near the $10-20 million salary filler range who’s at the end of your bench. Fontecchio’s not playing at a level to warrant the full mid-level exception. Thus, if the Heat find a replacement — an efficient high-volume 3-point shooter — who’s younger at a relative cost, using Fontecchio’s $8.1 million in a bigger trade should be a priority (should he garner interest).
Miami should also continue to explore Wiggins’ market. He’s one of its best wing defenders and one of its best at doing the dirty work. But if it can use his salary for at least one first-round pick or in the right package for, say, Giannis Antetokounmpo, that option should be on the table too!
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