Follow@cimini

Shabazz Napier and the UConn Huskies came together at the right time to propel themselves to another NCAA title. Napier was a huge catalyst from a leadership standpoint. Where the Huskies moved forward as a team was unheralded play from their backup point guard in Samuel and 5th year senior Kromah.

Another turn around performer for the Huskies was forward DeAndre Daniels. Napier played solid all season but the Huskies success for a title came with their depth.

Napier went from a mid second round to undrafted player to a top five point guard. I’ve been big on Napier from his freshman days at UConn but I can’t ignore his performance in summer league play.

He is shooting just 27% from the field. His assist to turnover ratio per game is alarming. He is averaging 2.8 apg to 3.5 turnovers per game. To say he is having a poor debut for Miami is an understatement. It brings the question if Napier is better suited as an undersized shooting guard more than a point guard. After all he was a scoring guard at UConn. The defense is still there but an ability to run a team on the professional level has to be in question.

He’ll continue to get his chances with the Heat as a point guard, but you have to wonder how long that would last.

Part of Napier’s problem now is he needs to play more under control. As a team the Heat in the summer league are turning the ball over at an insane rate. Thus far they have 84 turnovers to 78 assists. That’s just poor basketball all around.

Napier needs to leave the summer league with one solid outing to hang his hat on. Just because LeBron is gone doesn’t mean he won’t face criticism from the media. The return of Bosh and Wade will keep the media eyes surrounding South Beach.