Heat suffers major loss to coaching staff before season begins

The Miami Heat lost an enormous piece of their development program with the departure of their renowned shooting coach Rob Fodor Wednesday. This was reported by Ira Winderman. He is leaving to take on a role with the Dallas Mavericks joining head coach Dusty May.

Heat shooting coach Rob Fodor has left to join Dusty May's Dallas Mavericks coaching staff. Fodor was instrumental in assisting with the shooting of Duncan Robinson as well as others who upgraded their stroke while with the Heat.
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) September 16, 2026

Miami has turned undrafted players into NBA contributors more than any other team in the NBA. Rob played a substantial role in that over his eight seasons with the Heat. He goes by the Shooting Guy.

That is appropriate because it is his specialty. He was the Shooting Coach/Player development coach as listed on NBA.com for the Heat. The Heat have had their seven highest single season three pointers during his tenure.

Rob has taught shooting all around the world in his 30 years with the game of basketball. He coached in Norway, Germany, Spain, Singapore, Slovenia and the NBA. Rob has personally trained some of the best shooters the Miami Heat have ever produced.

Ducan Robinson was a standout success story out of Michigan. He came to the heat undrafted in 2018. He was strictly a shooter coming out of college but not a movement shooter that is required in the modern NBA. He shot only 28.6% from deep his first season in 15 games.

Under the tutelage of Rob and the rest of the development staff he became one of the best shooters in Miami Heat history. He is close to 40 % from deep for his career.

Core Principles of Shooting

The biggest core principle that Rob teaches is limiting inertia breaks. That means you need to have one fluid motion and any stops along the way leak power and efficiency from your jump shot. He also belives in teaching why the jump shot works or why it doesn't. This way a player can be in the gym and self-correct instead of needing a coach to watch every rep.

Max Strus is another one of the Miami Heat undrafted marvels that came to Miami and made himself into a career contributor under the teachings of Fodor and company. He shot 33.8% from three his first year in Miami and is now at 37% for his career from deep. He has earned multiple NBA contracts and has 7 years of playing big time basketball in the NBA.

There are many other success stories from Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, Haywood Highsmith to last year’s rookie in Kasparas Jakuicionis now traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. This adds another layer of intrigue to an already very interesting season.

This is an enormous loss for one of the best developmental organizations in NBA history. It could matter when trying to squeeze out every penny to stay under the Aprons contending for a championship around Giannis Antetokounmpo. The question will be on the rest of the staff; can they continue to produce diamonds in the rough.

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