MIAMI (AP) -There were nights last season where Chris Quinn was among the best players on the floor for the Miami Heat, and team president Pat Riley didn’t hesitate to laud the guard’s stellar efforts.
Yet Quinn is learning a tough lesson: In the NBA, very little comes easily.
Quinn, the point guard from Notre Dame who has spent the past two seasons with the Heat, is playing the waiting game this summer. He’s seen Miami fill holes on its roster through the draft and free agency – the Heat got forward Michael Beasley and point guard Mario Chalmers on draft night, then added sharpshooting wing James Jones on Wednesday.
Their futures, at least for the next couple of years, are set.
Quinn, however, can only wait and wonder where he’ll end up.
“I am not sure what I will do yet,” Quinn said Thursday. “There are some other teams interested, but I would love to be back in Miami.”
After many Miami players, including Dwyane Wade, were shut down toward the end of last season because of injuries, Quinn finally got a chance for some regular quality minutes – and took advantage. He averaged 14.4 points and 5.9 assists over the season’s final 17 games, shooting 40 percent from 3-point range during that span and having better than a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
He was one of the lone bright spots down the stretch last season for Miami, which matched the franchise’s worst record, 15-67.
“All the things that have gone wrong this year, he has gone absolutely right,” Riley said late last season. “Totally right in every aspect of the game.”
Now, Quinn wants to find out his worth. The Heat have tendered a contract to the restricted free agent, meaning they will get the right to match if another team signs Quinn to an offer sheet – but there’s no guarantee that Quinn returns to Miami, either.
“They’re still looking at some other things and so are we,” said Quinn’s agent, Mark Bartelstein. “I think he’d love to be back in Miami. No question. But there’s a number of teams that we’re talking to. It’s a business, he’s a free agent and he’s got to go out and get an offer sheet.”
Minnesota, the Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta, Golden State and Washington all have expressed interest in Quinn, and now that the NBA’s free-agent signing period is under way and many of the top-level players on the market have officially signed their deals, Bartelstein thinks interest in players such as Quinn will pick up considerably.
“People have a little clearer picture of what they’re doing now,” Bartelstein said. “Things have picked up the last couple days.”
Riley said this week at the Orlando summer league that point guard remains a priority for the Heat, even after trading for Chalmers on draft night and subsequently signing him to a three-year contract. The Heat also have Marcus Banks on the roster, and as of now, think of him as the favorite to be the starter.
Riley hasn’t forgotten what Quinn did last season, though, and clearly hasn’t ruled out adding the 6-foot-2, 175-pounder to Miami’s mix for the future.
“He had a great year,” Riley said.
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