Miami Heat: Goran Dragic’s bid for the Sixth Man Award is officially real
The Miami Heat are off to a 7-3 record and riding the back of their offensive prowess. One of the key causes of this offensive outburst is Goran Dragic.
The Miami Heat had a shot to be pretty good coming into the season, but nobody thought they would look this good. With the summertime addition of Jimmy Butler, along with the addition of two talented rookies, the Miami Heat knew they would have a chance to finally catch their offense up to their defense.
Well, through 10 games of the season, not only does it appear that the offense has caught up with the defense, but dare I say, it’s possibly surpassed it. While that might be a stretch, or not, that really isn’t the topic of today’s powwow. What is, or shall I say who is the topic is Goran Dragic.
Before the season started we pondered about who would get the starting nod at point guard between Goran Dragic and Justise Winslow. We also pondered about whether Dragic could challenge for the Sixth Man Award, essentially theorizing that he would be best suited there while Justise was simultaneously best suited as the lead ball-handler.
Justise Winslow ended up getting the nod, but Goran quickly seemed to embrace his role as the hired gun, tapped to come off the bench immediately and get buckets. He has still seen his fair share of minutes though, averaging 28.2 minutes per game, but more impressive is what he is doing with his 28 minutes.
Through 10 games this season, Dragic is averaging 16.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.9 assists. Although he has had a few clunkers in the midst, a four-point performance in Atlanta and a nine-point game(not really a clunker but we’ll call it that for devil’s advocation purposes) against the Denver Nuggets, he has scored over 10 points in 8/10 games. He’s scored a season-high 25 points twice this season.
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You also have to love the assist numbers as well, considering he should be taking all open and half-decent looks that he gets, but you also have to like to still see him act as the floor general of the second unit. The Miami Heat are as deep as they have been in a while this season and Goran’s ability to light it up off the bench only makes the depth that much more potent. With things already looking up for the Miami Heat and a steady dose of this Goran Dragic, a Sixth Man Award bound and worthy version of The Dragon, the sky is the limit.