Derrick Walton makes NBA preseason debut

Submitted by Maizeblue11 on
Derrick Walton played 5mins in his debut vs the Hawks last night. He finished 0-2 with 2 assists in 5 minutes played. While he was in, he had a good pass to set up a three-pointer. He didn’t get many chances to prove himself defensively, and when he did have a chance gave up an and-one to Quinn Cook. Hopefully he gets more chances to prove himself so he can start the season in the NBA.

bronxblue

October 2nd, 2017 at 12:14 PM ^

Hopefully he can get some run as a 2nd-unit PG or the occassional spark plug off the bench.  He definitely has the talent to be a useful player at the end of a bench.

ChiCityWolverine

October 2nd, 2017 at 12:18 PM ^

He won't start the season in the NBA. He's got up to 45 days this season that he can be with the Heat through his 2-way contract, and they'll save that for later in the year after he's gotten a chance to log a ton of minutes with Sioux Falls. Not to mention the team is very healthy at this juncture, so his call-up could also be a reaction to injuries in the Miami backcourt.

ChiCityWolverine

October 2nd, 2017 at 12:42 PM ^

They play fairly positionless and have several guys that can serve as primary or secondary playmakers, making the backup PG not necessarily a traditional floor general type. Tyler Johnson will be the nominal backup to Dragic (as was on display last night when the second unit of Johnson-Ellington-Richardson-Winslow-Olynyk played a fair amount together).

None of this is an indictment of Walton, or how Heat management feels about him. Tyler Johnson, as well as wings Josh Richardson and Rodney McGruder are all former unheralded prospects that Miami's player development and D-League experience has turned into solid NBA rotation players. Johnson's $50 million contract was inflated by an aggressive offer sheet from Brooklyn, but is still worth $10+ million per year and Richardson just signed an extension for similar money. The Heat invest in these guys and are more patient than most, but for now Walton is behind a pile of players.