Isaiah Stevens ‘unselfish at the helm’ and thriving as Heat summer league team’s ‘floor general’

It was a simple question. As a point guard, what’s it like to play in pick-and-rolls with athletic 7-footer Kel’el Ware on the Miami Heat’s summer league team?

Isaiah Stevens’ answer offered more insight into his own basketball mind and approach than into Ware as a roller.

“I’ve never played with a big man like him,” Stevens said. “Kind of just opens up another aspect of seeing the game. Even just trying to figure out timing and launch pad angles and different things like that with a guy who can get up at any moment. Just playing that fine line of on time, on target with him. Just getting to know where he likes the ball, when is it going too many possessions without him getting a good touch.”

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It was an answer only a true point guard could give and that’s exactly what Stevens is.

After going undrafted this year following a decorated five-year college career at Colorado State, Stevens has opened eyes as a member of the Heat’s summer league squad with his combination of playmaking and outside shooting despite being undersized at 6 feet and 185 pounds.

With Stevens’ point guard skills serving as a catalyst for much of the offense’s production when he’s on the court, the Heat is one of just four teams with a perfect 4-0 record through four Las Vegas Summer League games and will take on the Golden State Warriors in a semifinal game on on Sunday (4 p.m., ESPN) at Thomas & Mack Center on UNLV’s campus. Miami clinched a spot in the Las Vegas final four with a 109-73 blowout victory over the Toronto Raptors’ summer team on Friday night.

If the Heat wins Sunday, it would advance to Monday night’s Las Vegas Summer League championship game. Since Las Vegas Summer League introduced a schedule that culminated with a championship in 2013, the Heat has never made the final game.

“First and foremost, he’s doing his thing really,” Heat summer league head coach Dan Bisaccio said when asked what has stood out about Stevens’ skill set. “Not listening to me, being who he is. Being a player. He does such a great job of getting our offense organized. I have complete trust in him with that.

“I love the fact that he really picks and chooses his opportunities when to be aggressive and when to be a playmaker. Then when we need to settle, he settles.”

Stevens, 23, entered Saturday leading all of Las Vegas Summer League with 8.5 assists per game in four appearances. He has also averaged 8.5 points, three rebounds and one steal per game while shooting 50 percent from the field and 6 of 8 (75 percent) from three-point range with the Heat’s summer team.

Stevens has dished out 41 assists to just 12 turnovers in his last five summer league appearances. Creating scoring opportunities for his teammates with his vision and passing is a part of the game that Stevens takes pride in.

“I’ve been playing the point guard position a long time,” Stevens said. “So far to this point, I’ve been able to have a lot of team success in that way and I think it comes from being unselfish at the helm. Just trying to get guys opportunities, I feel like it makes them want to play with you even more, it makes them want to play harder because they know they actually have an opportunity of being rewarded at the end of a cut, when they’re open, as they’re moving. So I think it just brings the team together when that’s your style of play.”

Stevens’ style of play led him to become Colorado State’s all-time leader in points, assists and three-point field goals made. He also helped lead the program to the NCAA Tournament two times during his five-year tenure.

Along with Stevens’ passing, he also shot an impressive 40 percent on pull-up threes and 45.4 percent on catch-and-shoot threes last season at Colorado State.

“Isaiah does a great job as our point guard,” Bisaccio said. “He’s a floor general. He’s a leader out there. He gets these guys organized. He does a great job of just seeing the different coverages.

“Really give credit to his selfless nature. There’s sometimes when I’m really just kind of asking, ‘Hey man, you could have shot that one.’ He’s really telling me, ‘Well, I saw this,’ or, ‘I saw this play.’ We love really just the overall playmaking that he’s been doing and we’re going to continue to challenge him to just improve that even more, as the defense starts to really hone in on him.”

Stevens points to Chris Paul as his “favorite point guard of all time.” Stevens also believes that he has the potential to be effective in today’s NBA, which is pick-and-roll dominant and includes more space than ever with the three-point explosion around the league.

“I played in a lot of pick-and-rolls in high school, went to college and I was in ball screens every single year,” he said. “Then it just got bigger and bigger as my career advanced. So really just knowing that this is a pick-and-roll kind of league and being able to attack advantages and switches and different things like that. It’s just going to take some time to get used to the pace and how everything operates. But it’s definitely a style of play that I think I can find a niche in.”

The question will be whether Stevens can hold up on the defensive end in the NBA with his smaller stature. Also, can he find a way to finish around the basket against NBA size to pose some type of threat as a driver?

For now, Stevens is simply focused on the next summer league game and taking advantage of his opportunity with the Heat.

Stevens is signed by the Heat to an Exhibit 10 contract, which is essentially an invite to training camp. The Exhibit 10 deal also protects Stevens from being signed away by another team.

Based on Stevens’ play in summer league, though, a promotion to a more permanent roster spot at some point isn’t out of the question. But with no room under the second apron to sign a 15th player to a standard contract and all three two-way contract slots currently occupied, the Heat would need to waive a player to add Stevens to its NBA roster.

“I’m not really focused on all that right now,” Stevens said when asked about the possibility of a two-way contract with the Heat. “I’m just trying to show up every day and do my job here in Vegas. Whatever is for me is for me. I’m just trying to show up and make the most of opportunities. That’s all I’m worried about right now.”