Myron Gardner Might Be the Miami Heat’s Next TWO-WAY GEM

Myron Gardner Might Be the Miami Heat’s Next TWO-WAY GEM

Myron Gardner might just be the Heat’s next undrafted gem. I’m told I’m shining. [Music] And I’m back from my long weekend absence where I was out of town for my boy Santi’s wedding. It was a great time. It was really cool to get the entire squad back together in one place. I posted these same photos on my YouTube community tab and Clayton Dixby commented that we were out there looking like the United Nations, which I did find to be very funny and it was a great time. But of course, I’m glad to be back here making content again because the Miami Heat actually did some pretty interesting things while I was gone, like officially signing Myron Gardner. Wamp wamp. No, I’m just kidding because I actually do like Myron Gardner a lot. He’s a guy that during my summer league postgame videos. I actually spoke quite a bit about how I found him to be very underrated because I liked a lot of the little things that he was doing out there. So, I feel good about myself that he’s a guy I had my eye on. And now we know the Miami Heat did as well. I know there was a lot of other fans that liked Javvante Cook and Eric Stevenson because they showed somewhat of an ability to score the ball or to shoot, but to me those guys were good, not great scorers. And I really don’t think there’s a role for that type of player on this Miami Heat team. You know, it reminds me of guys like Jamari Buouay or Javvante Smart or even as recent as Alandis Williams. Well, I think Alis was definitely a better player. He was more athletic and a better defender than Buay and Javvante Smarts. But even Williams wasn’t a good enough scorer to be a real NBA player and he really didn’t do much else out there where a guy like Myron Gardner, he has a lots of what I like to call role- playinging abilities. I don’t think he needs the ball to be a productive player. And I think that’s part of the reason why the Heat officially gave him their second two-way contract because of course Vlad Golden has the first and we all expect Drew Smith to get the third at some point. Although that’s not official yet. Uh but of course with these two-way spots that could change at any moment that he could take away a two-way spot from a guy, give it to another guy, but this is where things stand as we enter training camp. For some background on Myron Gardner, he’s a 24 year old forward who according to the NBA’s website was listed at 66 220 pounds, which is some really decent size. Although I do want to note that it’s basically the same exact measurables as Haywood Highmith. Heismith was also listed at 220, but was just an inch shorter at 65. And when I watch Heismith play, I don’t really look at him as a super big player. We know he has an insane wingspan. His wingspan is like 7 feet tall. And when I tried finding Myron Gardner’s wingspan, I I couldn’t see it online. But Hayward doesn’t look super bad big. But that’s not the case with Gardner. When I watched Gardner play, you can tell that he really does have an NBA ready frame right now. He played his freshman season at Georgetown in limited minutes. Only had about uh eight games, 10 minutes a night. Uh he he was on the same team with Omar Yurtzan, Heat legend on that same roster. But Myron did have some off-the-court issues as a freshman that forced him to transfer and he went to a school called South Plains for his sophomore season, a school that is so small they weren’t even listed on his basketball reference. But after that, he did work his way up to Little Rock where he played his junior and senior seasons and put up some really decent numbers. As a senior at Little Rock, he averaged 13 points per game, nine rebounds, and four assists on 42% shooting from the field and 36% shooting from three. And that was on four attempts. And then after that, he played the next two seasons in the G-League with the Oyola Magic, where again, he put up some pretty good numbers, averaging 12 points and seven rebounds on a much improved 52% efficiency from the field and 38% from three on four attempts. So, it to me it was very encouraging to see that as the competition got better, so did Myron Gardner’s efficiency because usually that’s not the case. When you’re playing against better defenders, you don’t usually see that somebody get more efficient from the field. So, the fact that Myron Gardner was really able to hone in on what he does well and continue to improve, I thought that was something that was very optimistic in terms of his outlook because then of course he played this past summer league with the Miami Heat where he just had a blazing hot Vegas. I know it wasn’t a super super big sample size. I think it was only like three or four games cuz he missed a game in there uh when he dislocated his finger, but he was on fire in Vegas from Miami. He averaged 17 points per game on 67% shooting from three. Obviously, that kind of shooting is not sustainable, but he has shown the ability to be a scorer and stretch the floor a little bit. I actually think he has a super quick release which will help him on the NBA level. And he’s shown an ability to score. You know, actually earlier this year he was in the NBA GLeague Finals and in game one he had 30 points. So, I think it’s kind of crazy to see his progression as a scorer and as a shooter because growing up, that’s not really what he was known for. That’s not what he was scouted for. And I certainly don’t think it’s his best asset. To me, his biggest strength, I would say, is his defensive versatility. I think he’s smart enough and kind of quick enough to guard a lot of shooting guards. Certainly not doesn’t have the lateral quickness to guard the fastest point guards or fastest shooting guards, but I think he can guard a lot of them. And then I also think that he’s strong enough and relentless enough to guard a lot of threes and fours at the NBA level as well. I think he has a really really great motor. I found him to be relentless on the defensive side both on and off the ball. And he never shied away from physicality. He to me he really appears to be a heat culture guy which y’all know that’s kind of what I’m prioritizing because I want to get back to true heat culture. And to me, Myron Gardner does kind of embody that. And that’s nothing new because I actually found an old high school scouting report that was written about him back in 2017. This was from a Michigan writer named Eric Schaefer, who when talking about Myron Gardner’s strengths, he mentioned his motor. He said, “A big part of what makes Gardner so good is his unrelenting motor. The forward continually dominates the glass on both sides of the ball. something that is a direct indicator of his efforts. His motor is why he’s a menace defensively. He does a great job moving his feet and keeping his man man in front of him. Additionally, he frequently jumps passing lanes for easy stealto dunk opportunities. That was the scouting report back from 2017. That’s 7 years ago. And when I was watching Myron Gardner in summer league, I definitely saw the same things. So that’s why it probably wasn’t a hard decision at all for the Miami Heat to give him a two-way contract. heading into training camp. So on top of all of that stuff, the the defensive stuff, the effort, the rebounding, which by the way, great rebounding numbers for a guy who’s 66. So he does a lot of the little things. And then on top of that, he’s also shown the ability to shoot and score the ball as we discussed a little bit earlier. So if he can keep that up, if he can keep up that kind of shooting consistency, then I think there’s no doubt about it that he can be a pretty good two-way player in the league. And by two-way, I mean offensive and defensive guy. You know, a guy who can surpass his two-way contract to be to be a very versatile player in the NBA. Don’t get me wrong, I do want to kind of pump the brakes a little bit and clarify because a lot of times in these videos where I review some of the summer league guys, I have people comment and say, “Oh, you know, you’re acting like this guy is going to be a Hall of Famer.” And that’s on me. You know, I get excited a lot of times when I’m talking about these prospects. So, just to kind of pump the brakes a little bit, there was a reason that Myron Gardner was undrafted. You know, I’m not trying to hype him up as the next Jaylen Brown. He’s certainly not what Carter Bryant will be defensively as a rookie, you know, so I don’t want to act like he’s some uh dominant defensive stopper or anything like that, but I do think that there’s potential for Myron Gardner to have a Caleb Martin type impact in the NBA. maybe not, you know, Eastern Conference, you know, player of the the Eastern Conference Finals like Caleb should have got that one year, but besides that one series, Caleb Martin was still a very productive role player in the NBA. And I do think that Myron Gardner can have a similar type of ceiling. Remember, he’s only 24 years old and Caleb Martin was 26 by the time he came to Miami. So, although he’s older than your average rookie, I still think there’s some room for him to grow and he has shown a lot of things that’s allowed him to be optimistic. So, if he can keep up that shooting consistency, I’d say there’s at least a 100% uh chance that there’s a spot for him this league uh in some regard. Terms of this year, probably won’t play a bunch. He might get as much run as like Josh Christopher did last year, which is no more than a handful of games and playing a little bit of garbage time. But I do think he’s an interesting prospect, particularly for Miami, when you look at a guy like Andrew Wiggins, who’s been on the chopping block basically since we got him. You look at a guy like Haywood Highmith, you know, these are guys that could have a similar type of game as as Myron Gardner. Heywood Highmith expiring contract. He might be a sweetener in a trade this year. He might be a guy that he can’t afford to resign next year. So, you’re going to need guys that can kind of fill the role of what those type of three and D type players can do. Maybe Kashad Johnson is one of those guys, but maybe Myron Gardner is another. Especially if you are moving Wiggins and Hayward Highmith in a trade to get a bigger name, a more expensive name. Well, then you’re going to need cheap rundrafted guys to fill out the roster. And once again, maybe Myron Gardner can be that guy. So, that’s really all I got to say for this video. I’m certainly very excited to see what he can do in preseason. And he’s he’s an interesting prospect, but I want I want to know what y’all think, too. So, make sure to leave your comments down below. So, I’m very curious to hear what you think. Also, like the video and subscribe because your support is greatly appreciated. And I’ll see y’all on the next one. Peace out, everybody. Pull up in your city trying to get that dead face. Do it on my own. I don’t need no dead weight. Had to kill them off. Yeah, I need a head space. You know this homegrown don’t a fan. Hm.

Breaking down Myron Gardner’s journey from Summer League standout to signing a two-way contract with the Miami Heat. Could he be the next undrafted gem in Heat Culture? We dive into his G League stats, college background, defensive versatility, and how he fits Miami’s system moving forward. NBA and Miami Heat News featuring Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Kel’el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, Terry Rozier, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Duncan Robinson, Kevin Love, Haywood Highsmith, Pelle Larsson, Keshad Johnson, Erik Spoelstra and more. Subscribe for more Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins, NBA and NFL news.

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