Tennessee basketball: Kyle Alexander joins Miami Heat Summer League team
Tennessee basketball forward Kyle Alexander is another Vols player to join the NBA. The Volunteers big man will play for the Miami Heat in Summer League.
He was not among the three former Tennessee basketball players not selected in Thursday night’s 2019 NBA Draft. However, Kyle Alexander did get lots of pre-draft workouts, and that resulted in him getting a chance in the NBA Summer League.
A defensive specialist from Canada who stands at 6’11”, the Vols starting big man over the last two years will play for the Miami Heat in Las Vegas. The summer league lasts from July 5 through July 15.
Alexander joins a number of players who did not get drafted but will get looks from different teams all over the league. Jonathan Givony of Draft Express tweeted out the news of some of those players.
Canada update: Simi Shittu will play summer league with the Memphis Grizzlies. Lindell Wigginton will play summer league with the Toronto Raptors. O'Shae Brissett: summer league with the LA Clippers. Kyle Alexander summer league with Miami Heat. All will keep their options open
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 21, 2019
Sure, it’s just the summer league, so you can only prove so much against the competition you’re facing. However, there are a number of reasons at the moment as to why Alexander is going to a pretty good situation in Miami.
For starters, the Heat already have an overachieving Tennessee basketball star on their team. Josh Richardson became the heir apparent to Dwyane Wade at shooting guard after being a second round pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.
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Sure, Alexander comes from a different system, but that has to be in the back of the minds of Heat executives. On top of that, Alexander’s system is a better one considering the fact that he played for Rick Barnes, who has a superb reputation of developing four-year guys among NBA executives.
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Also, while Miami is loaded with bodies at power forward, they have no clear answer there, and Hassan Whiteside could be gone at center by 2020. Alexander will never be an NBA starter, but he’s a guy the scouts could look at to fill a major void when it comes to quality depth in the post after this year.
That makes the summer league huge for Alexander. Whether or not it turns into anything major remains to be seen, but he is going to the right situation. And as a team player, a scrapper and a rebounder, he’s the type of guy scouts love.
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Remember, Alexander may not have been the scorer that Admiral Schofield, Grant Williams and Jordan Bone were. But he was there for defense and rebounding. And without him in 2018, Tennessee basketball was upset in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Alexander does all the little things nobody notices. Heat scouts and coaches will appreciate that.