We are over four months removed from the Miami Heat acquiring guard Norman Powell in a three-team trade from the Los Angeles Clippers, only having to consolidate Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love, two fringe rotation players.
So far, while the Heat offense has teetered around the middle-of-the-pack, Powell’s Heat tenure has been a resounding A so far, so much so that not only has Powell has been one of the NBA’s most impactful scorers through 15 games.
Norman Powell is second in scoring among new faces in new places:
Last summer was headlined by Kevin Durant’s trade to the Houston Rockets and Desmond Bane’s trade to the Orlando Magic.
Through 15 games, Powell has lapped Bane (who’s improved after a slow start) while being eye-to-eye with Durant in scoring. Here’s how the scoring numbers look for a few of the names that changed homes this summer.
- Kevin Durant, Rockets — 25.5 PTS
- Norman Powell, Heat — 25.4
- Michael Porter Jr., Nets — 24.2
- Brandon Ingram, Raptors — 20.9
- Dillon Brooks, Suns — 20.9
Not to mention, Powell has scored more points in his 12 games than any other player in their first 12 games with the Heat in franchise history.
- Norman Powell — 305
- Alonzo Mourning — 278
- LeBron James — 275
- Kevin Willis — 237
- Shaquille O’Neal — 234
Correlation doesn’t equal causation, but when he’s on the floor, the team owns a 120.7 offensive rating compared to a 113.8 when he’s off. And this has come without Tyler Herro — plus Bam Adebayo for six games.
Powell will pick his spots to be aggressive. Take Wednesday, for example, He had six points (3-6 FG) through three quarters, before exploding for 17 points in the fourth quarter.
For most of the season, Powell’s set the tone in the opening frame/half. When that switch is flipped, no matter when that is, he’s a force — one that Miami needs to keep this engine humming.
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Powell saved us from embarrassment in front of Jimmy the other night. No Green, Curry, or Butler and we were trailing when Powell absolutely took over, with some help from Bam. It was as clear a display of how the better players can elevate their game in crunch time and why having the best player on the court with the game on the line is so important. Powell is an A player, a solid second option, but there is one level higher, the altitude that Steff, Giannis, Luka, Jokic Brunson, Antman, Donovan, maybe Maxey, and a few others reside in. Powell is the best we have right now and with enough of a supporting cast, we can win well into the playoffs. But, if you can get a top guy, a superstar, and they aren’t washed, or too close to being washed (LeBron, Durant, Butler), you do everything in your power to get him.
Powell is a natural Heat Culture guy, like Mitchell. Sign him up before another team snatches him away!
There may be players who were traded to the Heat who were as good as Powell or better (Zo, Hardaway, LeBron, Butler come to mind), but value wise, this may be the best trade in Heat history.
I don’t know who approved this trade in LA, but it should be out of the mind.
LAC gave up a NBA all star level player for practically nothing, and replace him with Beal, a player with the worst NBA contract (for teams) of past decade, which is often injured, and lets face it, nothing more then an average NBA player.
Maybe Riley put something in somebodys glass. I cant explain this differently. Comparable with Luka trade.
Lucky us.
Beal’s original contract got bought out, otherwise Clippers wouldn’t have been able to sign him. This was the logic behind this trade. Once Beal reached an agreement with the Suns regarding the buyout, the Clippers took the opportunity to get a similar player for less money (Beals new contract is only 5mil). This allowed them to get Collins and Brook Lopez. I guess it looked good from their point of view, but the reality is they aren’t better than last year.
Lol, their 4-11 record confirms your last sentence.