“National media, please pay attention to him, because you didn’t pay attention to us at all, but he is a very special player.”
After the second game of the finals, Heat coach spoolstra made a report suggestion to the reporters in front of him. His “special player” refers to Heat starting defender Gabu Vincent.
In the first two finals, Vincent scored 19 points, 5 assists, 23 points and 3 assists respectively. No matter the Heat loses or wins, Vincent is a stable output point, and two games have contributed 9 three points.
In the election of the hot fire, Duncan Robinson, coreb Martin and Max Struth all had high light moments but their stability was insufficient. Only Vincent, who has both attack and defense since the playoffs, can not only output stably, but also play high-gloss performance when the Heat needs.
Adebayor called him “Mr. reliable”, which was appropriate.
Vincent once scored 21 points in the warm-up match between Nigeria and the United States men’s basketball to lead the team. This is probably the highest moment in Vincent’s career. Vincent also led Nigeria to beat China men’s basketball with 11 points in the men’s basketball World Cup in 2019. At that time, the middle name “Nnamdi” was printed on the back of his jersey “.
As for Vincent, maybe most people’s understanding of him is limited to this, only knowing that he is a drop draft with some highlight moments in the international arena. Indeed, compared with many inspirational players, Vincent’s story is much more common. But this kind of ordinary people’s struggle is relatively more grounded.
Vincent’s experience can arouse a lot of resonance: After graduating from an ordinary university, he didn’t find a job in a large job fair and went to a subordinate branch of an ordinary company as a temporary worker, doing well there attracted the attention of another company. After changing jobs to another company, he continued to work in the subordinate branch, because the business needs to be forced to travel back and forth frequently in the two places. Finally, I managed to attract the attention of the head office and got the formal contract.
This is an overview of Vincent’s experience. Countless college students who have just walked out of school have experienced it.
Vincent played NCAA for 4 years at the University of California, Saint Barbara, with the highest average score of 14.8 points. Before Vincent, the most famous NBA player produced by the University of California at Saint Barbara was Brian Shaw, whose average career score was only 6.9 points. After graduating from Vincent University, he failed in the 2018 draft and finally went to Stockton Kings, a subordinate team of King G League.
In the 2019-20 season, Vincent averaged 23.4 points in the Kings of Stockton, and he could hit 4.4 points with a three-point hit rate of%. Vincent’s performance attracted the attention of Adam Simon, the assistant general manager of heat. Simon had a communication with Vincent’s agent Bill Nev, which opened the door to Vincent’s fate. In January 2020, Heat signed Vincent with a two-way contract, and Vincent started his journey.
For a marginal player, running for a living is nothing, but the background at that time should be considered. At that time, the new Crown epidemic was in the early stage, everything was unknown, and everyone was full of fear of the virus.
Before the NBA was suspended due to the epidemic, Vincent kept running for six weeks. Today, others are in Miami. Tomorrow, it will be concluded that Su falls, 1500 miles away, is playing for the Sky Force team, a subordinate team of the heat, after hearing the call the day after tomorrow, you may have to rush to Washington and Dallas.
At ordinary times, he went out with the heat. Vincent also had charter flights to sit on. The heat had perfect epidemic prevention measures. However, when Vincent travels by himself, he needs to take a business flight with ordinary passengers, and the probability of being infected with the virus increases dramatically. Moreover, there is no direct flight between Miami and Sioux Falls, and he needs to change planes every time.
During that time, Vincent rarely stayed in one place for more than 48 hours, and he was always in the mode of “On the Road. Vincent calculated that in those six weeks, he spent most of his time staying in hotels, taking planes and waiting at the airport. Most of the time he ate at the airport. When Vincent was called up, he didn’t get much chance either. For example, the Heat plays magic and stag at home, warriors and wizards at home, Vincent can play 1 minute 37 seconds when he is more, and 21 seconds when he is less. Vincent’s rush is just to show his face in garbage time.
Shame? Vincent didn’t feel ashamed, and the accumulation was the prelude to success.
In the 2019-20 season, before the NBA was suspended due to the epidemic, Vincent only played 6 games for the Heat. After the rematch, Vincent played three regular season games, and only played 15 seconds in the playoffs when the Heat entered the finals. In addition, Vincent underwent knee surgery after the season ended in October 202020.
It seems that the NBA Road, which averaged 2.4 points and field goal percentage of 21.6 percent, has come to an end. But in November 2020, the Heat gave Vincent another two-way contract to leave him behind. Spoolstra valued his compatibility with the team very much. The Heat handed Vincent an upgrade plan. The Heat assistant glass hoped Vincent would transform from a point guard to a point guard.
Glass helped Vincent adjust the shooting posture and speed up the shooting speed, because Vincent was only 1.88 meters tall, and speed up the shooting speed was Baileys without any harm. Glass also helped Vincent strengthen his defensive and organizational capabilities. Lorry also played a significant role in Vincent’s improvement of organizational capabilities, although he knew that Vincent’s transformation to play a role in his position, playing time has a shock, but Lowry is still willing to teach Vincent in hand. Even when Lowry was recovering at home, he would send a text message to Vincent to remind him of his precautions at half-time.
Vincent gradually gained a firm foothold. In the summer of 2021, he finally turned positive and got a formal contract. In the 2021-22 season, Vincent entered the main rotation, and the average playing time increased to 23.4 minutes. He also played 27 starting games, contributing 8.7 points and 3.1 assists, with a three-point hit rate.
This season, Vincent played 68 games, 34 of which started. In the second half of the season, he completely replaced Lowry as the starting point guard. In the playoffs, Vincent started in 19 games, with an average of 13.9 points and 3.9 assists. The three-point hit rate was%, which was a huge improvement compared with% in the regular season.
“For young players, the most difficult thing is the role change, but he accepted the challenge,” spoolstra praised Vincent. “He was originally the second place, a shooter, but we want to cultivate him into combo guard and play an organizational role. He accepted the challenge and made great progress in the past three years.”
Adebayor called Vincent “Mr. reliable”, not only because Vincent could score, but also because of Vincent’s progressive passing, pressure from the defensive side, and small details such as making opponents attack and foul. However, Vincent’s ability to do these things that he could not do depends on his persistence day after day. Not long ago, some insiders predicted that Vincent had a chance to win a contract with an annual salary of tens of millions of dollars during the off-season, and he was finally going to survive.
“I just don’t give up, I just persevere. You never know when and where the opportunity will appear. What you can do is to practice the ball silently in the dark, study the video where others can’t see it, and always be prepared.”
In Vincent’s consciousness, life is an infinite game, and no one can know the result in advance. Vincent only knows that the more he explores, the greater the unknown boundary. Vincent didn’t know where this exploration would eventually take him, but he knew that he could definitely become a better Vincent.