| Looking Ahead Authored by Andrew Friedman - April 30, 2007 - 2:51 pm
Reeling from a first round sweep in the same fashion that the season started with a humbling and humiliating loss to the Chicago Bulls, the Heat is forced to address its future. Changes are certainly in order for a team whose age finally caught up with it as seen by injuries and an inability to keep up with the youthful, fast-paced Bulls.
After the championship in 2006, the Heat stayed the course and opted to not make any additions to the team’s core the following summer despite having glaring weaknesses.
Miami has one of the best guards in the league in Dwyane Wade, yet the play at the other guard position shows the Heat’s biggest weaknesses. The Heat lack virtually every skill it needs at this position: speed (offensively and defensively), shooting and defensive ability.
The Heat used Jason Williams and Gary Payton for the second consecutive season at this position. Throughout his career, Jason Williams has been known for his up-tempo, creative style and his ability to sink shots in transition. But those two skills appear to be all but vanished.
And Gary Payton, who was re-signed last summer with the hope he hadn’t lost more than just a step at age 38, apparently lost several steps and is a mere shadow of the premier defensive player he used to be.
Neither player dealt with major injury issues until they came to Miami and now both struggle to stay on the court.
Payton will likely retire, and Williams has one more season left on his contract, making him movable in a trade to a team looking to free up space on its payroll a year from now. Miami has a few options to find a replacement: the draft (Miami has the 20th pick), offering the mid-level exception to a free agent or through a trade. Pat Riley has proven to be either hit or miss in finding the right point guards for the Heat. Keyon Dooling, Damon Jones, Rafer Alston and Mike James are recent hits. Anthony Carter and the 2007 versions of Williams and Payton were misses.
Whomever Miami acquires will need to be able to hit open, spot-up shots, defend and chase Ben Gordon (and players like him—which the league’s elite is filled with), and be comfortable deferring point guard duties to Dwyane Wade after bringing the ball to half court. If the guard is long, up-tempo and can create his own shot, then those can be considered much-needed benefits.
Recall Dooling: he fits this mold perfectly and played extremely well alongside Wade in 2005. With a player like this, the Heat won’t have to put Wade on Tony Parker, Leandro Barbosa, Gilbert Arenas, Richard Hamilton, Jason Terry or Ben Gordon. This summer should also mark a visible shift toward a Wade-centered team (away from Shaquille O’Neal), and a guard like this would be ideal in complementing him.
Miami also needs to retain its important pieces. James Posey and Jason Kapono are both free agents, so Miami will need to refrain from being fickle and stingy and resign both. Between the height, rebounding, defense and shooting this duo brings, Miami would make a huge mistake not to bring both back.
Miami also needs to try to replace its poor foul shooters. Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning and Antoine Walker shoot the worst percentages on the team. Walker is the most replaceable of the three but will be difficult to trade due to his large contract and poor play this past regular season. He did, however, show up for the playoffs and played well when almost no other Heat play did, thus raising his trade stock some.
Two other areas of need are youth and hunger. The Heat showed it had neither against the Bulls. One option to fix these problems is a roster shakeup. The other is a drastic change in mentality. The Heat was embarrassed this season and failed to defend the trophy. Miami needs to regain its pride before they can recapture the title. |
