Mario Chalmers‘ spirits were down, but his stats are at a career high.

The Miami Heat are coming off a 91-84 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in which Mario Chalmers was the team’s leading scorer with 18 points. For this first time since his 2008-09 rookie season, he’s averaging double-digit points per game (12.0). His 8.7 shots per game is also a career high.

Flashback to the summer. Chalmers lost his job in the final game of the season–Game 5 against the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 NBA Finals–and had yet to sign a contract as the Miami Heat weighed their options. Reports of the Heat’s interest in guys like Kyle Lowry, Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas made the rounds while Chalmers sold his Miami condo.

Finally, after LeBron decided to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Heat scrambled to bring back anyone and everyone who resembled its championship roster. Chalmers signed up for a two-year, $8.3 million deal.

After starting the first game of the preseason, Rio was benched and Erik Spoelstra inserted Norris Cole into the starting lineup. Chalmers moved into a reserve role that was totally my idea and Cole’s been the starter ever since.

When told that he would be coming off the bench, Chalmers was understandably upset.

“Mario Chalmers thinks he’s the best player on the court no matter who’s on the floor and he’s been a starter pretty much his whole life, so you were a little worried [how he would react to losing his job],” Wade said. “His spirits were down a bit. But we sat down and had a great conversation about his role at this moment. Nothing is set is stone. Whatever role you have, you have to play to the best of your ability. No reason to whine or cry about it. He’s done a great job for us.”

Via Barry Jackson for the Miami Herald.

Now we have a new Chalmers. His hair has grown out and he’s let his sideburns sprout so that he looks like a young Jules Winnfield three months before filming Pulp Fiction. Whatever the step below thriving is, that’s what he’s doing in his new-found sixth man role, going against opposing second units and being called upon to be the aggressor. He doesn’t need to worry about passing to Wade or Bosh in these scenarios. He can just [try to] be the best player on the court.

His 12 points per game ranks fourth on the team and he’ll only get better as he is more accustomed to his role and the new ball-movement-heavy offense. He might have been down when this all started, but his role as a spark off the bench gives him a new-found importance to this Heat squad–something that wasn’t evident in the Finals or when he was meeting with his real estate agent in the summer.