It was an aspirational goal, but attainable. After all, plenty of Division II hoopers have gone on to have rewarding careers overseas. Maybe one day, Henshaw thought, Strus could even play at one of the top international leagues in Europe. The two kept shooting, and Henshaw didn’t think much of it. Then Strus kept shooting, and shooting, and shooting until, eight years after lighting up Division II scoreboards, he became a starting shooting guard in the NBA. Now the overlooked recruit from Southside Chicago who spent five years in college, was cut twice from NBA teams and tore his ACL before ever finding his footing in the league is playing a key role for the Miami Heat as they get set to face the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals. It’s hard to see any of it happening without the springboard of Division II basketball. “Great story,” said Scott Trost, his head coach at Lewis. “It’s not a common path.”