“The Unwavering Journey of Gabe Vincent: From Undrafted Player to NBA Starter”

It’s not like the Kings never gave Gabe Vincent a chance.

The Kings once invited Gabe Vincent to participate in the pre-draft test. Although the Kings did not select him in the end, they still gave Gabe a 10-day contract. The GM at the time was Vlade Divac. The whiteboard of the signing photo has an interesting message , but that’s another story.

At that time, Gabe was not able to hit the rotation list, and finally he did not get a formal player contract. Instead, he joined the Kings’ sub-team Stockton Kings, which meant a lot to Gabe Vincent. He was born in Modesto, about 30 minutes away from Stockton. Growing up and attending high school in Stockton, it is a great honor to have the opportunity to play for the hometown team. Gabe averaged 16.6 minutes per game in the G League in the 2018-19 season, leaving 8.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists. It’s 37.8% / 29.1% / 71%, Net Rating is tragic -9, the three-point perimeter that was good at college didn’t seem to play very well in the G League, as if the Kings didn’t give him a second 10-day contract Find good explanations.

It’s not like Gabe Vincent didn’t give the Kings a chance.

Different from the dismal performance in the first season, Gabe seems to have finally found his proper level in the 2019-20 season. In 20 games (only three starts), he averaged 31.8 minutes per game. Among the points, he contributed 23.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists, and his shooting measurements were astonishing 47% / 41% / 90%. Net Rating also improved from last year’s miserable -9 to 7.2 in one fell swoop, EFG% (45% –> 59.4%) and TS% (47.2%–>63.4%) have both increased significantly.

Although some people will say that this is just the G League, but playing such efficient results as a substitute should have received some love from the home team. However, the Kings have never offered a two-way contract to Gabe Vincent. Instead, they gave the two-way contract to Kyle Guy. (currently playing for the La Liga team) and DaQuan Jeffries (currently playing for the Nick G League team). But at the beginning of the new year in 2020, Gabe saw the dawn of his basketball career. The Miami Heat noticed Gabe’s performance and signed him in January. Since then, he has started a different career trajectory.

As long as you still have a fighting spirit or an attitude of not admitting defeat, no NBA player will be willing to serve as the team’s substitute. At the beginning of each game, sit on the bench and watch his teammates start. But Gabe Vincent knew that he was not that good. If he joined the NBA, he would definitely not be able to get a starting position. So when he joined the G League, he took the initiative to ask the coaching staff to start from the bench. He will rely on his own efforts to win the game Time, and Gabe has indeed proved that this scheduling method is very useful for him. He can fully help the team in a limited time, which makes his mentality adjusted very well from the beginning, and he will not join the NBA because of the future The team felt overwhelmed by the reduction in playing time.

And this seems to predict Gabe’s situation in the Heat. In the first year of wearing the Heat jersey, Gabe Vincent only played 83 minutes in the whole season. The Heat’s starting point guard was Kendrick Nunn — another treasure that the Heat dug up from the G League — and the backcourt had Goran Dragić and Tyler Herro in the backcourt. Throughout the season, he spent more time experiencing what the “bubble” is all about.

Recalling that time, every day is meeting, testing, eating, and quarantining, which seems to have become a new routine for players. At that time, the food provided in the park was completely inferior to the level enjoyed by NBA teams before the epidemic. Gabe often joked with his teammates, “Welcome to the G-League!” and made his teammates burst into laughter.

Although Gabe, who only played 9 games in the 19-20 season and averaged 9.2 minutes per game, did not join the Heat with the mentality of a tourist, he has been thinking about what aspects he should strengthen in order to make himself Get a spot on the Heat. Gabe found that the team’s depth at the point guard is not enough, maybe this is the direction that he, who has always lacked the ability to handle the ball, can try to work hard.

Therefore, Gabe fully played the role of the target team during the team practice. No matter who the opponent is in the next battle, even if the style of play is far from his own, he will try to figure out the style of play of different guards, so that the starting players can fight in groups. More reference value. His hard work was seen by the coaching staff. When Nunn was absent due to the diagnosis, he finally got a chance to play. Although Gabe Vincent’s book data is not impressive throughout the season, his work attitude still earned him his second two-way contract in the 20-21 season.